Catalyst 4: Animal I Have Become
by Unstable Firestarter
Summary: Sophronica's back. After being kidnapped one night, an event that spurs the brothers to search for her, they run into more trouble then they could ever imagine when they find her. Connected to a certain underground Shinra project by the name of Deepground. Yazoo/OC
1. Prologue

**A/N: **It can't be you say, another fic in the Catalyst series –le gasp- well it is. Everyone's favorite couple (well, some people's favorite couple, lol) are back. And here's the first part. Much thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed the first three fics. I decided that I loved the couple of Sophy-Janneke and Yazzy too much to let their story just end, and so, it continues. With lots of new twists to keep ya guessing.

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**Prologue**

_She was sitting on a grassy meadow in the High Lands near the Midgar Plains. A butterfly drifted by her, sweeping along on the same breeze that toyed with her sun blonde hair. With a small smile, she laid back, folding her arms behind her head to gaze up at the incredibly blue sky, with puffy white clouds floating lazily through its deep depths. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes which were the same incredible shade of blue as the sky was on this day._

_She smiled softly when she heard soft footsteps coming up the side of the meadow. Well, sensed more than heard, as his footsteps were near impossible to detect. Opening her eyes, she pushed herself up on her elbows as she watched him approaching her. Noticing her gaze on him, he returned her smile with a small one of his own, and her heart skipped a little. She loved to see him smile, loved the way it would add a certain light to his already to-die-for eyes._

_And it was than that the sun was suddenly engulfed in black clouds. Blackness that spread with startling swiftness across the rest of the sky, blotting out all light and the blue glow. In the wake of these clouds swept a fierce icy wind that made her gasp and shiver. When she turned her frightened gaze back to him, he was no longer standing there. Flinching, she looked about her, pushing herself awkwardly to her feet. She spun in a complete circle, but she was utterly alone._

_Or maybe not. Another presence was sweeping over her, engulfing her, and she shivered again, violently. Clasping her fingers around her shoulders, she stumbled back a step, turning, trying desperately to discern where this feeling was coming from. And than there was the whispering, so slight and soft that she felt she had imagined it at first. But as it persisted, she realized that she hadn't. Soft, swiftly spoken words that she couldn't understand, could only try to keep up with the sound of them as they swirled around her. The volume of the voice rose and fell as it surrounded her, like crashing ocean waves._

_Another gust of icy wind hit her, and this time it knocked her off her feet. With a shout, she freed her fingers from her shoulders and pin wheeled her arms as she tumbled backwards, almost seeming to be dragged. And then she was falling, away from the meadow, over the edge of the cliff that over looked the roaring waterfall that fed into the clear lake far below._

Janneke awoke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in bed. She lifted one hand to her chest, her heart pounding in her ears and a chilled sweat covering her. As her shaky gaze darted around her tower room, she slowly remembered where she was and even more slowly began to calm down. It had just been a dream; a silly dream is all, so why was she still shaking like this? Pushing her damp golden blonde hair back from her forehead, she drew her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. She gazed blindly across at the smoothly curving wall for a long moment. A flash of lightning from outside the tall window made her flinch, and she turned her gaze to the glass panes.

Pushing back the covers, she slid over the edge of the bed, her feet touching the cool stone floor. Silently, she walked over to the window, gazing out at the storm that was raging through the Sleeping Forest. Wind battered against the glass, rattling it slightly, and she took half a step back. That was a nasty storm out there, and she shivered again. But not from the weather, from her dream. The whispering she'd heard in her sleep still wouldn't leave her alone, almost as if it were haunting her. But that was silly, it was just a dream.

As she rubbed her arms slightly to try and rid herself of the chill that was still settled over her, she looked out the window again. And stopped. A figure was crossing the wide sweeping path, just on the other side of the spring. A small figure, wearing a nightgown. She narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to see through the rain splattered window. That figure…the only person it could be…Faye? But why? Why on earth would she be outside in a storm like this, much less in the middle of the night.

Her heart beginning to race again, Janneke turned away from the window and hurried down the winding stairs from her tower room into the hallway. Down the hall to the first door, and she stopped. The door to Faye's room was open. Striding forward the last few steps, Janneke pushed open the door to her daughter's room. It was empty. Stepping through the doorway, she swiftly gazed about the whole room, just to be sure. Nope, totally empty. Starting to panic now, she hurried down the hall and down the last flight of stairs. And then she hesitated, biting her lip a little. Should she wake the others?

No, she thought, shaking her head a little. She shouldn't bother them for something like this. Faye was probably only sleepwalking after all, Janneke could handle this herself. Pausing at the doors to the Capital, she braced herself for the wind and rain, realizing only then that she'd forgotten her shoes. Oh well, it was too late for that now, she thought, as she pulled open the door and slipped out, closing it behind her. Taking a deep breath, she moved swiftly across the wide path that curved around the crystal clear spring, seeming black now in the storm. The frigid rain still made her gasp, and the wind cut all the way through her cloths.

Shivering, she lowered her head and moved faster towards where Faye was. She called her daughter's name, and she stopped, but didn't turn to her. Water dripping through her long curly bangs, Janneke raised her head again, squinting through the rain as she finally reached Faye.

"Faye," she said, but her voice was lost in the wind.

She reached out a hand to Faye's shoulder, and drew back with a gasp. When she'd touched the girl, her hand had passed right through her. Starting to turn now, Faye's form faded out into nothing, and Janneke suddenly realized that the figure of her daughter had been an illusion. But who, and why? What was going on?

Sensing movement to her left, she whirled, but saw nothing. There, more movement towards her right now. She spun in that direction, and this time she saw a shadow slinking through the woods. Or at least, she thought she saw it, and she thought that it was a shadow. She wasn't really that sure though, with the rain driving into her eyes. Nervously, she took a step back, continuing to look around. The shadow had faded out she thought, but was suddenly sliding towards her now, rising up, materializing into a form, an outline. Some one…was there, in the darkness that swirled and pulsed in the night like it had a life of its own. A terrible chill swept over her, accompanied by the whispering from her dream, and she took another step back.

"Who's there?" she called, and once more her voice was ripped by the wind, twisting it, distorting it.

She received no answer, but suddenly the darkness and the figure surrounded by it moved forward towards her, almost seeming to glide. For a second, she stood frozen, until a hand emerged from the darkness and reached out for her. Uttering a yelp, she took a step back, stumbling and falling in the process. As she moved back, the hand merely tangled on her silver charm necklace that she was wearing. When she fell, the chain snapped, and the necklace fell with a splash to the soaked ground.

As she scrambled to her feet, the darkness slid towards her, indeed as if it had a mind of its own. She turned to run, but suddenly all she saw was darkness. Pulsing, shifting around her. And then that was when the whispers and the screams hit her. Shocking enough to be like a physical slap. She fell to her knees, an immense chill surrounding her, almost choking her, and she gasped. She raised her hands to her ears to try and block out the sounds, but it was of no use. She forced herself to her feet, and spun in a circle. But she could see no way out of…whatever this was. It was as if she were miles away from the Forest and the Capital, no longer even in the same dimension anymore. At least…that's what it felt like. She stumbled a few steps forward, but suddenly found herself dizzy.

"Strong enough to resist, are you?" mused a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and no where at the same time.

She spun, stumbling and almost falling, but saw no one. "Who's there?" she called, and her voice echoed back upon her.

"In time dear," the voice replied, slow, with a smooth accent she couldn't discern, "For now it would be better if you stopped resisting my darkness."

She turned again, but now all she could hear again was that awful screaming, filling her ears, making her nauseous. And it was as if a weight were atop her. Her vision spun, her knees buckled, and then she was falling. When she hit, it was like landing on clouds, or as if she really didn't hit anything at all, but either way, she stopped falling. She struggled to keep her eyes open, but she was fighting a losing war, and soon, the silence of unconsciousness swept over her, and that was the last thing she remembered.

The darkness receded back to a single form, and a few moments after that, just vanished altogether. And alone in a quickly deepening puddle, the only sign that this scene had actually occurred, was Janneke's necklace, the charm on the end an elegant silver angel. A gift from Yazoo.


	2. Two Months Later

**A/N: **Thank you so much for the nice reviews and I'm sorry it took so long to update, real life again, and I got a little lazy, but here's the next chapter. And I hope I didn't mess up Nero's character too much.

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**Chapter One "Two Months Later"**

That same dream…fragments and bits, all jumbled and out of sequence, making almost no sense. It awakened her again, and her eyes snapped open. She blinked up through the gloom of her dark quarters at the metal ceiling, and frowned slightly. That same dream…always the same. But always such a distorted mess, it never made sense, so she never understood why she had the same dream over and over. Or why she always felt a little sad when it rained. She blinked her vividly green cat's eyes and sighed softly, sitting up. She supposed that if she was awake, she might as well get up, there was always something for her to be doing it seemed, no matter what.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stretched her arms over her head. Dropping them back down to her sides, she shook her long silver bangs back from her eyes. Bangs that were long and delicate, curving all the way to under her chin and framing her porcelain perfect face. Her hair, such a light, sparkling silver that it was nearly translucent, cascaded down her back, all the way to her waist, like a waterfall. She stood then, rising to her full five foot eleven height, but with the thick soled black biker boots she wore, she stood at an even six foot. Her boots reached up to her knees, and were secured with four straps and large silver buckles on each. She also wore tight black leather pants that tucked neatly down into her boots, and were laced down the side seams with silver thread.

Turning, she strode across her quarters to where her coat was slung over the chair in the corner. Her top was a tight black leather vest that had a plunging v neck line, and only went half way down her taut stomach, instead angling down to points on the sides, the very tips covered in minute bits of steel. On the back of this vest, but currently hidden by her long hair, was a silver pointed cross. She picked up her coat and swung it around, sliding her arms easily into the sleeves and settling it down over her shoulders. It was a long black leather trench coat, the end falling all the way to the floor and tracing across the ground with a faint whispering sound as she walked.

Clipping her black leather whip to her hip, she picked up her butterfly sword from the table beside the chair and strapped its sheath across her back, shifting it a little until it was perfectly comfortable. Then, she turned and strode across the room to the door, which she pulled open, and after slipping out into the barren hallway, closed behind her. Casting her gaze up and down the hall, she started to her right, her boot steps quiet against the steel grating. In fact, everything seemed unusually quiet right now.

Turning a bend in the hallway, she followed it around to the end, where the elevator up was. Pausing before the double steel doors, she pushed the button and leaned back against the wall to wait, crossing her arms over her chest. Tilting her head back and closing her eyes, she thought again of her dream. So puzzling and unclear. She'd been dreaming the same thing for as long as she could remember now, ever since she'd awakened in Deepground. Always fragmented. A storm, blood, voices. It made no sense, and yet she kept dwelling on it, because it made her curious, because it was a part of her past that she didn't remember. She didn't remember a lot of her past, but that was alright; she didn't feel like she was missing anything. She had everything she needed here and now. A purpose, a job, a place to live. And it was almost never boring. And when it was, she could find ways of amusing herself.

The steel doors to the elevator opened with a soft whoosh, and she opened her eyes, pushing away from the wall and uncrossing her arms to walk inside. After pushing the button, she watched the doors slid closed again, and that slight feeling of unbalance as the elevator began to descend. For a few moments, in her boredom, she tried to count the levels as she ascended through them, but then lost count and just gave up. It was useless anyway; she couldn't even remember how far underground the Base was.

When the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened for a second time, she stepped out, stretching the rest of the kinks from her arms as she made her way down the hallway. Above her, the bright track lights flickered a little, throwing shadows briefly across the area. Up here, it didn't seem as so well kept as below. It appeared more abandoned than anything, but that was just fine; if it looked abandoned, then the only uninvited guests they usually had to worry about were stupid kids, looking for an adventure.

A set of large doors that she had to pause and press a few buttons to open, which led to another hallway, but much taller and broader than the last, which held secluded loading docks as well. Another set of double wide steel doors lay at the end, but much larger than the first pair. She entered a series of two codes, and the door slid open near silently to allow her through. Outside, it was still night, and the whole of Midgar was shrouded in darkness. It didn't bother her one bit; she rather liked the night more than she did the day. And there was something with darkness that always caused a stirring in her mind, that she could never quite figure out.

Moving across the large courtyard, her gaze sweeping over the temporarily dormant loading docks and chopper pad, she turned to walk backwards, looking up at the ruins of the old Shinra Building. Then she paused, narrowing her eyes a little to try and discern if that was really a figure she saw up there. Yes, she was right; it was him. A normal person would have never been able to see anyone in this complete of darkness, but she'd always had a kind of night vision, like a cat.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she focused a little. After a pause, she felt an unfurling sensation across her back as her wings branched out, spread, stretched. They were massive, angelic wings, spreading for a full nine foot span, but they were not a matching pair. After all, just like her brother had only had his left wing, she'd been born with only her right wing, which was as black as the night surrounding her, if not even darker. But her left wing, on the other hand, was so pearly and crystalline it was almost as if it did not really exist at all. And yet, even though it was nearly see through, and sparkled like glass in the right light, the feathers were lush and soft as silk to the touch, proving that the wing was more than a figment of one's imagination.

Opening her eyes, she flared her wings out and flapped them, rising easily into the air. She'd never even used her wing until Deepground, when she'd gotten her second. The specifics of how this was possible were sketchy to her, but she didn't really care; it wasn't doing her any harm not knowing exactly how she'd received her second wing. She soared up easily through the night sky, the soft breeze stirring her hair around her shoulders, causing her long bangs to drift across her face.

When she reached the rooftop of the Shinra Building, she landed light as a feather, and folded her wings neatly against her back. She moved forward slowly until she stood beside him on the other side of the rooftop. Though he didn't even move at her arrival, he knew she was there, had known since before she'd even gotten to the roof.

"Lucid," he said by way of greeting, his voice so low and lilting that she almost thought she'd imagined it.

"Nero," she replied, looking over at him for a moment before following his gaze out across the Midgar Ruins.

She wondered what it was that he saw, what he was focused so intently on. Even with her cat like night vision, she couldn't see anything moving in the old ruins. Frowning slightly, she closed her eyes, listening intently. At first, she heard nothing, but then…drifting across the wind in the silence, there was the sound of a falling rock, bouncing and hitting something metallic as it fell. Opening her eyes again, she fixed her gaze in the direction that it came from. She still didn't see anything…except a brief flash of silver. So…some one was out there. She turned her gaze to Nero.

"Shall you, or shall I…?" she questioned when he didn't say anything.

For a moment longer he remained silent, never once looking over at her. "You handle it, dear," he said at last, voice ever soft and slow and lilting.

She nodded, turning her gaze back towards where she'd seen the flash of silver, and stepped up to the very edge of the rooftop. Diving over, she flared out her wings and glided silently over the ruins, searching down into the darkness. Then she saw it again, another flash of silver. Curling her wings closer to her sides, she dived down, drawing her sword without a sound. As she grew closer and closer she was able to see that the flashes of silver she'd had seen were a figure dressed all in black, with long silver hair.

She drew her sword across in front of her, holding it at the ready, prepared to attack this stranger from behind and sever their spinal column, an instant killing blow, when suddenly the figure whirled about, having sensed her some how. They drew a weapon from their side in the time it took her to blink, and opened fire on her. Starting slightly in surprise, she swiftly veered to the side, lashing out with a kick as she flared her wings to slow her descent. The figure darted to the side, shooting at her again, and this time she used the blade of her sword to deflect the flying bullets as she landed.

Drawing her wings to her sides, she shifted her grip on the handle of her sword. There was a soft sliding of metal on metal, as she separated her sword. Twirling a blade in each hand now, she cocked her head to the side as she eyed the figure, who had now paused in their attack. Her gaze traveled up, taking in every detail. Scuffed black biker boots, leather pants, leather gloves, all black, and a long black leather trench coat that was zipped up from the figure's hips to just under their chin. Long, molten silver hair framed a pale, handsome face, bangs sweeping across the side of their nose. And the most beautiful, animalistic cat's eyes, vivid green with just a touch of blue. It was a _him_, and a quite handsome him at that.

She growled softly, "Well, well, what have we here?" she questioned, holding her twin swords down at her sides now, the tips touching the rubble.

The stranger froze, and in the dim moonlight that was filtering down over the ruins, she saw his eyes widen. He lowered his weapon, a type of gunblade, it seemed, down to his side, and merely stood there, not saying a word.

"What's the matter?" she questioned, growing a bit impatient, "Haven't you got a tongue to speak?"

-

But Yazoo couldn't speak; he couldn't even believe what he was seeing. This whole time, he'd been searching for…and now… This was impossible. And yet here she was, the picture perfect image of how Sophronica had been before she died, and been reincarnated as Janneke. But it was impossible, there was no way. And since Janneke had been missing for the past two months, he'd never stopped trying to find her. But now, instead, he'd found…

"…Sophronica…?"

-

His voice was low and smooth as he spoke, like steel wrapped in velvet, and sent a peculiar tingle down her spine. She arched an eyebrow when he said her name, regarding him with a new sense of curiosity. "So you know of me," she said. Then she pointed one of her swords at him, "But who are you?"

"S-Sophronica, it's me," he said after a pause, "It's me," he repeated, "Yazoo."

She tilted her head further to the side, considering this. But no spark of recognition lit in her eyes. "I do not know any Yazoo," she said, "Even if I did, it would not matter. You would die anyway."

And with that, she rushed forward, slashing her swords down in front of her in an x pattern. He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the twin blades. She struck again, swinging her swords around in double arcs, and once more he dodged, moving farther away. Yet he didn't even attempt to fight back. She paused for a moment in her assault, sighing. Well, this wasn't going to be much fun.

"How…can you say that you do not remember me?" he asked quietly, his green cat's eyes shining in the dark.

"I never knew you in the first place," she growled, "To have forgotten you."

She was sure she didn't imagine the hurt expression that flashed through his eyes as she rushed at him again. He blocked her sword blows with his gunblade, Velvet Nightmare, but still refused to fight back. What was his problem? She could tell by the way he moved, the way he handled that gun, that he was a warrior. So why did he have such a reluctance to fight her?

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The Indigo Soldier stood in the shadows on the rooftop of the Shinra building, her arms crossed over her chest. She tossed her head, and the breeze blew her mid length, silken hair back from her face. Her hair, which fell in wild spikes, was a pale lavender streaked with deep indigo. Long, spiked bangs swept down across the left side of her face, hiding one of her vividly glowing Mako blue eyes. Shrouded mostly in shadows were she stood, not much more of her could be seen, except the outline of her tall, slender form. But it was apparent that she was young, nineteen at the least, and twenty-two at the most, but no older.

She stood there utterly silent, having watched the brief exchange between Lucid and Nero. She had the seen these two together often, since two months ago. The pair barely spoke, but they seemed to have some sort of connection. Wouldn't that be logical, since he'd brought Lucid to Deep Ground, was in a way responsible for her. And yet, the way the Indigo soldier felt about this, seemed anything but logical.

"Cerise," he said quietly, and the sound of his slow, lilting voice caused her to flinch.

Free from her reverie, she turned her gaze to him as he continued to stand there with his back to her. An odd feeling flickered through her at the thought that he'd known she was there all along.

"Forgive me Nero," she said, ducking her head, "If I have disturbed you. I shall leave you be." She turned to go, but his voice stopped her.

"No." he said simply, and she froze. "You haven't bothered me at all."

He paused, and she swallowed hard, subconsciously hanging off of his every word.

"Come," he concluded.

Cerise hesitated for a moment, than turned. He was asking her to join him? She would have expected him to ask her to leave, but not this. Slowly, she walked across the rooftop until she stood beside him, about three feet away, which was as close as she dared. As he gazed out over the ruins, she snuck a glance over at him, watching the way the light from the moon reflected in his garnet eyes. Such beautiful eyes. As if feeling her gaze upon him, he turned his attention to her. She promptly looked away, fixing her gaze on a random point. In the silence, she could hear the sounds of a fight drifting up to them.

"Trouble?" she asked, her gaze unwavering until he looked away from her.

"Lucid's taking care of it," Nero replied.

"Anything serious?" she questioned, feeling her curiosity rising a little.

"Nothing to worry your pretty head about," he said.

Still gazing out over Midgar, she smirked slightly. If only he knew… Knew what? Her smirk transformed into a soft frown as she puzzled over that. The thought had come so automatically that she hadn't even considered it until a few moments after. If only he knew… What indeed…


	3. Blind

**A/N: **I'm so, so sorry this took soo long. Hope it's not too bad, and much thanks to everyone who's reading.

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**Chapter Two - "Blind"**

Sophronica executed slashing strike after slashing strike, only for her opponent to skillfully dodge each one, but never once returning the blows. Growling softly, she spun around, crossing her twin blades, and brought them down over her head. He raised his gunblade to block, and they became locked in a battle of strengths. She had the immediate advantage, as she was pushing down with all her strength, while he was only balancing the force with one arm. She forced him back a few steps, and being just as tall as him, was almost nose to nose with him. Their gazes were locked as well as their weapons, and for a long moment it seemed neither of them even blinked, as if trying to stare down the other.

But his strength was starting to give out, she could tell, and smirked a little. Then suddenly it was as if he stopped fighting against her completely, and they were falling. Her eyes widened slightly, caught off guard, and she tried to flare out her un-matching wings to regain her balance, but it failed. As they fell, he some how twisted them around, and landed on top of her. Her wings were pinned beneath her, and he had her arms pinned above her head, suddenly holding them there with renewed strength. Becoming pissed off now, she struggled against him, but he held her down with a knee on the center of her chest.

"Will you just listen to me for one fucking second," Yazoo said, and she could hear the bitter frustration in his voice.

"I don't think so-" she started, but he suddenly cut her off.

Leaning down, he kissed her full on the lips, catching her utterly off guard and stealing her breath away. Her eyes widened even more than before and for a moment she stopped struggling completely. Than she was filled with anger, and wrenched her head to the side, breaking the kiss. Head butting him hard, she pulled her hands free and shoved him back off of her. Scrambling to her feet, she raised one hand to her mouth, though at the same time thought that she was blushing for some reason.

"What the fuck?" she exclaimed, her eyes still wide, but her shock starting to wear off. "What the FUCK," she repeated again, stating obviously her anger.

Though she would never admit it to anyone, there had been something oddly familiar about that kiss, about the touch of his lips against hers. But like her dreams she couldn't explain it, and so it only served to frustrate her. Yazoo climbed slowly to his feet, watching her warily as he reclaimed his grip on Velvet Nightmare. His silver hair veiling his face for a moment, he tilted his head to the side as was a habit of his. For a moment after her outburst, neither of them spoke.

"You truly do not remember?" he asked softly.

"I don't know you to need to remember you," she growled, still insistent. She twirled her twin blades around in two full circles before tightening her grip on the hilts and sliding one foot farther behind her.

"What has happened to you?" he said quietly, not moving but to shake his head slightly.

Narrowing her eyes a little, she regarded him a moment before answering. "What hasn't?"

And then she was moving forward, spinning and bringing her swords around in dual arcs straight towards him. And during this blur of motion, he didn't move at all. When she came to a stop, she was eye-to-eye with him. Her swords were crossed over, and each blade rested lightly against the sides of his neck. One move and it would be all over. And yet as she stared into the depths of his inhumanly beautiful cat's eyes, she found she couldn't bring herself to finish through with the motion. There was something stopping her, as insistent and unyielding as a brick wall.

With a growl, she drew her blades back and stepped away, whirling to stalk a few paces. She paused to kick angrily at a chunk of rubble, which bounced through the darkness and collided with a piece of twisted steel beam. As she whirled back around to face him again, her wings twitched irritably. She just stood there though, over come with rage at the fact that she didn't seem to be able to finish him off. And she had no clue why; she had never hesitated before, not for anyone or anything.

"Sophronica…" he started after a moment.

She ignored him. "Why the fuck can't I kill you?" she muttered, whirling about once more, causing her long coat to flare up around her ankles.

Her wings twitched again, and as she puzzled over this whole matter, she locked together the blades of her sword, joining them into one again. Then she stopped, her back to him, and tilted her head to the side. Well, just because she was having trouble killing him, didn't mean she couldn't bring him back to Deep Ground…and find out exactly _why_. Of course. Then she would have all the time in the world. Smirking, she turned back around to face him, opening her mouth to speak. But he was no where in sight. As her gaze swept over the ruined buildings surrounding her, she ground her teeth together in anger; how could he have escaped so quickly?

"You can run, but you can't hide," she called, her voice echoing in the stillness, "I swear I will find you."

Returning her butterfly sword to its sheath across her back, she flared out her wings and took to the night sky. With anger and confusion burning in her eyes, she flew back towards the rooftop where she'd previously been with Nero. And even from this distance she could see that there was some one else with him. It was only as she grew closer though that she recognized the feminine figure to be Cerise the Indigo. When she finally reached them, she spread her wings straight out to slow her descent, and glided down to the rooftop.

"He got away," she declared, interrupting Cerise in mid-sentence.

Nero merely gave her a questioning look, and Sophronica ignored Cerise's dark glare at interrupting her as she answered his unspoken question. "Our little guest out there," she said, crouching at the edge of the rooftop for a moment like a bird of prey.

"How did he get away?" Cerise demanded, sounding more like she was annoyed with Sophronica's mere presence, than the fact that there was a stranger wandering around the ruins of Midgar.

"He just did," Sophronica replied coldly, not in the mood to explain. "He…said that he knew me. But I've never seen him before." Straightening up, she furled her wings close against her back, and continued without waiting for any further comments from Cerise. "I'm going to see if there's anything in the database about him."

"You do that," Cerise snipped as Sophronica began heading across the rooftop.

"Cerise," Nero said simply, and the tone of his voice made her fall silent.

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Down in the Base once more, Sophronica set her sword aside, and seated herself before one of the computers. Logging in, she accessed the Deepground data base, waiting while it loaded up, before she was able to start her search. She used his name for the search, saying it aloud to herself as she did so. Once more, there was a flash of familiarity that she couldn't explain, and she shook her head in frustration. It seemed like forever before the computer brought up any results in her search. And when it finally did, the simple message that blinked across the screen only served to frustrate her more, and add to this mystery:

'_Access denied. LUCID does not have clearance to view these files.'_


	4. Hell Hath No Fury

**A/N: **Let's hope I don't mess up Weiss' character too much . -I actually wrote this whole chapter in like, two hours, lol-

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**Chapter Three – "Hell Hath No Fury"**

That had been her…that _had_ to have been Sophronica. No one else in the whole world looked or acted like she did. No one else in the whole world gave him shivers down his spine like she did. He would never mistake her identity, not with all the time he'd spent with her, with all the memories and feelings they'd shared. Not when her and Faye were so much alike. She had his eyes…but her personality, her personality was more like her mother's.

But what had happened to her? Why had she changed so? She said she didn't remember him…and he could tell, could see it in her eyes, that she wasn't lying. Something was so different about her, something that had silenced her memories of him, but some part of her still recognized him, he could tell that much. He felt somewhat numb as he started the engine of his motorcycle. He had to get back to the Capital; he had to tell his brothers that he had found her. Maybe Kadaj would have some idea as to what had happened to her. They'd all heard the stories of Deepground…but Kadaj seemed to know more about it than the other two did. They would be overjoyed to know that she was alive and well, but he knew the mystery of her amnesia would puzzle them as much as it did him.

It Deepground were behind her kidnapping and sudden change, well, that idea made it feel somewhat hopeless to get her back to the way she used to be. From what he'd heard of Deepground, once they'd fucked up some one's mind, there was no getting them back. It was even worse than some of the things he'd heard of them doing to those who'd been in SOLDIER. But Sophronica was strong; she'd survived SOLDIER…she would survive Deepground too. She just had to…he couldn't lose her yet again…

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Some one more laid back wouldn't have cared so much about having just this specific bit of information denied to them, when they had the whole rest of the Deepground data base and resources to use. But she wasn't that laid back. The fact that the one thing that was bothering her the most, had been brought up by this stranger who could be the key to figuring out all of her vague dreams, and she couldn't even find out what Deepground knew about him. Obviously they knew _something_ about him, or the files wouldn't have been classified. And she had this feeling that only her access to them was restricted, that the other Tsviets could view these files whenever they wanted. _That _was what really pissed her off; that others could have access to something that she wanted to know. Something that could hold a clue to her past that she didn't know.

So she was going to take her complaints straight to the source of all of this, to the leader of the Tsviets, the one who, as far as she knew, basically controlled all of Deepground. And so controlled what was restricted knowledge and what wasn't. She didn't know how many people had ever voiced their objections against something about Deepground to him, but she suspected that if a mere soldier had done so, they'd ended up dead. But she was a Tsviet, she was their new prodigy. Nero had brought her here after all, so she'd been told. It was he who had taught her the ways of Deepground. And Nero was his brother, so that had to mean something, didn't it?

She would find out soon enough though, as she stalked down a wide corridor on the lowest level of the Deepground base. She raised a hand to rake her fingers back through her long hair, pushing some of the silver bangs back from her eyes. There were no soldiers down in this long, lonely corridor; they were all back guarding the elevators and entrances. She guessed that they figured invaders would never make it this far, or if they did, that he would make short work of them. But she'd seen the soldiers back at the elevator, and she'd hated the way they'd watched her with a mix of curiosity and smug arrogance, like they thought she was a fool for going to see him.

She wasn't scared of him though, not of him, or anyone else. She wasn't even bothered by the mighty Azul, for the only thing she felt for him was respect. Respect of his power and nothing else, because his personality was too similar to hers, that arrogance that conflicted with hers and had all too many times nearly ended up in physical fights between them.

With a shake of her head to clear some of these needless thoughts from her mind, so that she could concentrate on the task ahead of her, she eyed the large doors ahead of her, at the end of the corridor that she was quickly nearing. Without breaking stride, she lifted both hands and shoved open the tall double steel doors, granting her entrance to the room beyond. She hadn't even bothered knocking; she wasn't that polite. So instead, she just walked in, only stopping a few paces inside the large room.

"Weiss." She said, her voice loud enough to be heard through the whole room. The way she spoke his name made it not a request for his attention, but a demand.

He didn't move for a moment, and then slowly opened his eyes, regarding her from where he sat on his 'throne'. He shifted a little, crossing his legs and leaning over to put his elbow on the arm of the seat so that he could rest his chin on the palm of his hand. "Yes, Lucid?" he asked.

"The Deepground data base," she said, walking closer a bit so that she could better read his expression, "Why has my access to certain things been restricted?"

"What certain things?" he asked with a lazy sigh, not bothering to hide his annoyance at her rudeness.

She hesitated suddenly, wondering how much she should tell him. "Things that shouldn't be in your power to keep from me," she replied at last, raising her chin a little in defiance.

"Lucid," he said simply, his bright blue eyes boring into her, "I can do whatever I want. Whether you approve of it or not."

"Not when it has to do with my past," she shot back, becoming angered at his arrogance, "You have no right to keep something like that from me."

"Dare you defy me?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." She said boldly. "All I wish to know is one simple thing. One simple thing that has apparently been denied to me."

"It has been denied to you for reasons that you have no say in," he said, voice still low and calm despite her obvious anger, "So just drop it, Lucid."

"I refuse," she said, taking a step forward, "Who the fuck are you to decide what I can and can't know about my-"

She never even got to finish her sentence. Apparently he'd finally grown annoyed enough with her to act. As she spoke, she saw him rise to his feet, one spiked lock of white hair falling over his eyes. In the second it had taken her to blink, he'd crossed the room and was suddenly right in front of her. It was as she was in mid word that she felt his hand drive into her stomach, fingers straight and stiff. By the time she'd realized that he'd hit her, she was sprawled flat out on her back on the floor, gasping for air, her brain momentarily numb from the pain shooting through her body. All she could think for a moment as her eyes widened in surprise, was that if he'd hit her just a little harder, he could have punched clear through her. So why hadn't he…?

"I should slay you for your impudence," he said, his voice low and dangerous, more of a purr than anything else, like the thought of killing her pleased him.

"So why don't you?" she asked between ragged gasps for air, struggling to regain her composure.

"Because that wouldn't do at all," Weiss said, as if the reason should be obvious.

His tone made her curious despite her anger and pain, and she forced herself to open her eyes. Her gaze traveled up his form, across his bare chest to that smug, handsome face that she now hated. "And why's that?" she asked as she climbed to her feet, trying to hide her wince as she did so.

"You intrigue me. You amuse me."

His reply startled her, and her head jerked up as she stood straight. Despite her height, she still had to look up to him a little, and as she gazed into his fiery blue eyes, it was within their depths that she saw an emotion that she couldn't quite pin down. However, soon her surprise turned into anger once more, and she growled softly. She raised a hand to strike him, but had forgotten that he was faster than her. Before she came anywhere close to having the blow connect, he'd reached a hand behind him, grasping one of his gunblade katana. Before she had a chance to react, he'd hit her across the face with the sheathed weapon. As she reeled back a little, he hit her again, landing the blow across her stomach where he'd hit her before.

The force of the blows knocked her to her knees, and she threw out a hand to stop herself from falling the rest of the way as she gasped. She raised her other hand to her stomach, her fingers finding the tender spot and making her wince slightly. As she bowed her head, her gaze fixed on the floor, she felt a bit of blood flowing from her nose. However, she refused to make a move to do anything about it, pretending it didn't bother her.

"Now, just let it go Lucid," he said, as if he actually cared, "Wouldn't want to see you getting hurt; you're a valuable part of Deepground."

She didn't respond, knowing now that it was useless to try and get him to change his mind about what was restricted knowledge to her and what wasn't. She would just have to find another way. And she _would _find another way.

She figured their little 'conversation' was over when she saw him turn and start to walk away. But then he stopped and turned back to her.

"Oh, and Lucid?" he said, stooping a little to wrap a hand around the back of her neck.

At first she tried to resist as he pulled her to her feet, but he dug his fingers into her neck, signaling that she shouldn't. Gritting her teeth, she allowed him to complete the motion so that she was now standing in front of him once more, a small trickle of blood running down her lips and chin from where he'd broken her nose. However, she gazed at him defiantly, refusing to look away from his commanding blue eyes. She hated how much stronger he was, hated that he was just about the only one able to best her without even trying. But above all else, she hated that he was telling her this by the way he had his strong hand around the back of her neck. He was making sure that she once again knew her place, and that if he so desired, he could snap her neck like kindling. She was as helpless in his grasp as a baby bird was in the jaws of a lynx.

"Don't defy me again," he said.

"Yes, Weiss," she replied through gritted teeth, burning with anger at having to submit to him after what he'd just done to her, how he'd exercised his strength like that on purpose just to humiliate her.

"Good." He said.

She knew what was coming next, but was powerless to pull away. Even if she'd managed to, she would only have angered him again anyway. But when he leaned over to kiss her hard on the lips, she remained still as a statue, continuing to glare at him. There was no passion, nor any lust, behind the action. He did it simply because he could. And because he'd discovered on previous occasions that she hated it. Pulling away, he finally let her go as he licked her blood from his lips.

Without another word to him, she spun and strode from the room, kicking the doors closed angrily behind her. Stalking down the corridor, she furiously scrubbed the back of her hand over her mouth, not to wipe away the blood, but to rid herself of the taste of his lips.


	5. These Days

**A/N:** Wow, okay, so I haven't written in forever. I had some really rough times, ended up falling into a funk that lasted forever, then got caught up with finals and finishing high school…graduation day coming up, woo-hoo! Okay, so, I'd had the first scene with the three written forever, but I could never finish the rest of the chapter until now, it actually only took me two days once I snapped out of my funk this past week. To make up for not having written in so long, this chapter's like, twice the length of my previous ones xD I hope all you people reading didn't give up on me!!

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**Chapter Four – "These Days"**

"I found her."

They were the first words he spoke upon entering the Capital in the Sleeping Forest. The possible meaning behind them caused Kadaj to turn swiftly from where he stood in the corner beside Loz. In his haste, he accidentally kicked his older brother in the shin, and Loz awoke with a soft yelp, having been napping.

"Yazoo?" Kadaj questioned, caught by surprise and wanting to be sure he knew exactly what his brother meant.

"She's alive." He said, pausing only now to catch his breath.

"Sophronica?" Loz asked sleepily, sitting up finally and gazing over at his brothers.

Yazoo nodded, but Kadaj could tell from the way he lowered his head that it was not as simple as it seemed. After all, if he'd found Sophronica/Janneke, why wasn't she with him?

"Where is she?" Kadaj asked quietly.

"In Midgar…" Yazoo replied, his voice almost inaudible as he fixed his gaze on the floor. "She's…it's…it's happening all over again, brother…"

"Yazoo…?" It was Loz who questioned him now, having risen to his feet and blinked away the last traces of sleep.

"She doesn't…remember…again…" Yazoo said, looking up at last, "It's Deepground, just like you thought, Kadaj."

Kadaj could see the pain in his brother's eyes, and he understood it, because it was a pain he shared. Only, he had become better at hiding it. He had been forced to, with everything he'd been through. Showing emotion, any kind of emotion, was a weakness. And right now especially, he couldn't be weak. He had to be strong; he had to be the leader he was and figure out some sort of plan of action.

"We'll get her back," he said at last, lifting his chin confidently, "We have before."

"How can you be so sure?" Yazoo asked, tilting his head to the side. It was obvious that he desperately wanted to believe his brother, but at the same time he was hesitant to.

In truth, Kadaj wasn't sure, but he couldn't let them know that. If he lost faith, then they would too. "Because," he said simply, "You'll see."

--

The night was even later now, almost verging on becoming early morning, and yet she had not gone to bed since she'd awakened earlier that evening. Despite all she'd been through this one night, she was not tired, but filled with furious energy. First that silver-haired stranger, Yazoo, who claimed to know her. The one she couldn't seem to bring herself to kill, the one who had vanished in the blink of an eye, taking her hopes of remembering her past with him. Then finding out she didn't have access to everything in the Deepground data base like all the other Tsviets probably did, and _then_ the horrible way Weiss had humiliated her when she'd questioned his authority. It was all more than enough to fill her head so much that she wouldn't be asleep for days maybe.

So here she was, after her fight with that enigma, after her humiliation at Weiss' hands, in one of the regular training rooms, straining her body even more. She was a warrior; she was more than used to these sorts of things. Even if her nose was still a little sore, and her stomach tender. For the moment, she was shadow boxing, her coat tossed carelessly in the corner of the large room. She was silent as she moved, her eyes burning with anger and frustration, her long silver hair whipping about her body, sometimes obscuring her vision, sometimes hindering enough that she had to raise a hand and rake it back from her eyes, nearly clawing her fair skin in the process on occasion.

She had to figure out who this man was, why her access to his data file had been denied. She knew that Deepground knew of him, knew a hell of a lot more about him than she did. So why didn't they let her know? Were they afraid of something? Were they afraid of what would happen if she knew the truth about him? But why… Deepground feared nothing; they had no enemies great enough to destroy them, and certainly no reason to keep secrets from their own members. Especially not the Tsviets. Tsviets were the most trusted out of everyone else who belonged to Deepground. They were the top of the elite, the best of the best. So why keep secrets? What didn't they want her to know?

So many questions, and not a single answer, only serving to make her even angrier. So angry, in fact, that she turned her rage on one of the training dummies. The thing didn't stand a chance, even though it was well constructed, meant to survive through many grueling beatings as the soldier of Deepground used them to train. But she was not an ordinary soldier, she was a Tsviet, and an above average Tsviet at that, and so within a mere few kicks and punches, its frame began to bend and deform. With a furious cry, she leapt and spun, releasing her rage in a roundhouse kick that sent the dummy flying across the room to smash into the wall and come apart in pieces upon impact.

"You seem upset, darling," a voice cooed, easily recognizable by its thick Russian accent.

Breathing heavily, Sophronica turned towards the voice, seeing Rosso leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, just as she'd expected. She didn't exactly like the Crimson Solider, though she couldn't say exactly why. She knew that Rosso was loyal to Weiss to the end, and would never betray Deepground, but she just didn't like something about her. Rosso was undeniably insane, but that wasn't it; Sophronica was partially insane herself, and it could be argued that her brother had been as well. No, it wasn't Rosso's insanity that bothered her; it was something else, something she couldn't quite put her finger on…

"I heard what happened with Weiss," Rosso said, inclining her head slightly.

"It was nothing, Rosso," Sophronica said, brushing her damp bangs back from her eyes and turning away from the Crimson Soldier.

"His talents are amazing, are they not?" Rosso continued despite the other woman's obvious disinterest.

Sophronica shook her head, beginning to return to her shadow boxing again, "Just forget about it, Rosso," she said.

"Ah, but darling," the younger woman purred, suddenly right behind her and draping her arms over Sophronica's shoulders, "You shouldn't clash with Weiss. After all, he only wants what's best for you. You're his prodigy. What you have in here-" she laid a hand over the center of Sophronica's chest, tapping the silver-haired woman's temple with her other, "-Is very valuable to him."

Sophronica grit her teeth at the closeness of the other woman, annoyed as well with her words. Of course she was Weiss' prodigy, of course he cared about what she could DO, not who she was. He only wanted the best for her because of what she could offer Deepground, what she could offer him in that aspect. Nothing more, nothing less. What else was she to him anyway, but a simple fighting machine? That was the whole point to Nero bringing her here from...wherever…wasn't it? Yet another unanswered question…where she had come from when Nero brought her here…

"Get off, Rosso. I know Weiss' intentions and reasons." She said, fighting to keep her voice even toned.

"Never forget them, Lucid," Rosso said, pulling away, "It shall be your undoing if you do."

With that last remark, of which Sophronica had nothing to add to, the red head turned and left the training room. Sophronica stood there for a few moments, shaking her head. One would think she'd get along well with Rosso, what with the two of them being somewhat similar in personalities and goals, rather than dislike her. Or perhaps it was BECAUSE they were so similar, that she viewed Rosso as competition, or a rival she had to prove she was better than. Perhaps that WAS it…however, she had more important things to figure out. She had a feeling the matters were pressing, as if something important would slip out of her grasp if she didn't figure it out, or that she was running out of time to do so.

Sighing and shaking her head, she spun and strode to where her sword was, beside her coat, and picked it up. Walking back to the middle of the training room, she separated her sword into two blades, wondering idly for a moment what Rosso meant with her last comment. If she ever forgot Weiss' reasons and intentions…ever went against the leader of the Tsviets, ever posed a threat to him… Surely Rosso didn't mean…but perhaps she did, knowing her. She somewhat hoped that day would never come; she viewed Rosso as an equal in battle, and not only would it be a tough fight, but it would be somewhat of a shame to lose the power Rosso possessed.

Focusing once more on the matters directly before her though, she gripped a sword in each hand, spinning them expertly, the tips almost grating against the steel floor in the process. Shifting her hold on the hilts until each one rested just perfectly in her hands, she launched into another routine similar to her previous shadow boxing one, but somehow even more violent. The look in her vivid green-blue eyes said that maybe she was imagining slashing Weiss to ribbons as she moved. Cutting that smug smirk from his handsome face, tearing apart that lean, strong body that he used to torture and humiliate her so.

For a moment, with these thoughts in her mind, the sly smirk that had formed on her face faltered for a few seconds. It was the WAY she was thinking about Weiss, aside from the fact that she was partly imagining cutting him to shreds, it was the way she studied the details of his body and face in her mind that suddenly made her wonder if…could she possibly…? No, not Weiss; never Weiss, never anyone. She hated Weiss, and no one would ever make her feel for them. It was merely her respect for his power and strength. That was all. Nothing more, nothing less. And so, having for the moment assured herself of these things, she continued on with her routine, pouring her anger into it, which had been rekindled even more with Rosso's interruption.

As she was in the middle of executing a midair kick, however, with her blades slashing around from her sides, she heard whisper quiet footsteps entering the training room. She landed with a thump made heavy by the weight of her boots and the force of how far her kick had taken her, but kept her back to the doorway, sure she knew who it was once more invading her much needed personal time. She lunged into a side flip, keeping her arms half tucked to her sides, not at all using her hands to support her until she was once more supported solidly on her feet, she finally spoke.

"I said it was nothing, Rosso," she said, looking back over her shoulder and immediately seeing that she'd made an error in judgment with assuming she knew who it was. "Oh…it's you…"

"Don't you just sound thrilled," the Indigo Warrior said dryly, tossing her head in an attempt to move that one stray lock of spiked hair back from her eyes, "Had a rough night?"

The older woman snorted, stretching a kink out of her neck and half turning to her, "Could say that," she said, "It started off in Hell and just fucking got worse, know what I mean?"

Cerise winced sympathetically, but her vividly glowing Mako blue eyes betrayed otherwise. "I know exactly," she said honestly. She'd spent the evening with her own troubles of course, which were just as important and bothersome as whatever problems Lucid had. Well, they were to her anyway. Lucid probably wouldn't think so.

"Do you?" Sophronica said, raising an eyebrow. Well…with this second interruption to her personal time, she just might as well forget about it. People weren't going to leave her alone tonight so it seemed.

"I've had problems you know," Cerise said, though she seemed distracted, not really interested in anything about Sophronica's rough evening.

"Really?" Sophronica said, sounding merely annoyed as she rejoined the blades of her butterfly sword and held it down at her side.

The younger woman gave her head a slight shake and blinked, seeming to snap out of her reverie. "Might I ask you a question, Lucid?"

"You just did," she replied, and then added at Cerise's obvious lack of appreciation for her humor at the moment, "Go ahead, if you must."

"It's about Nero…" the Indigo Soldier started, sounding uncertain, "Do you…know what he likes? His interests and that sort of thing?"

Sophronica blinked for a moment, slightly taken aback by her question. "His…interests?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes…his interests…" Cerise clarified, seeming nervous for some reason.

Mulling this over for a moment, Sophronica shook her head a bit. "The man loves his darkness, destruction, and his brother, that's it as far as I know," she replied at last.

Cerise was quiet for a few minutes, just gazing at the older woman, before finally asking; "What about you?"

"What do you mean, what about me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow again as she headed across the room to where she'd tossed her coat.

"Does he love you?" Cerise question boldly, lifting her chin a bit.

"Love _me_?" Sophronica repeated, snorting, "_Love_ me? Why would you think such a thing?" Leaning her sword against the wall for a moment, she stooped to pick up her coat.

"Well…" Cerise started, her confidence faltering for a moment as she seemed less sure of what she was saying, "The two of you are together so often…"

"Because he brought me here," the silver haired warrior stated simply, swinging her coat over her shoulders and slipping her arms into the sleeves, "He's my mentor," she reached back, freeing her long hair from under the collar of the coat, "He's taught me all about Deepground and how to be a Tsviet."

"I see…" Cerise said, bowing her head a little. So…she had been wrong, had she…? She still wasn't so sure, but she knew it unwise to push the subject further, lest Lucid became suspicious of all her questions. "Forgive me, I shall take my leave then Lucid, and let you have your peace." And with that she was gone from the training room, hoping the flush spreading through her body hadn't made it to her face.

Sophronica watched the other Tsviet go, shaking her head as she picked up her sword again. Cerise certainly was an odd one…she couldn't remember exactly how long the girl had been a Tsviet, but she thought it was fairly recently, about the time she herself had been brought here by Nero. Nero…Cerise sure was interested in him…and of course, Sophronica was not as stupid as the younger Tsviet obviously thought she was. She could easily tell why Cerise had been asking those questions, however, she didn't think such emotions as those going with a crush were common among the Tsviets. She didn't think much emotion at all was common besides the love of destruction…and loyalty to Weiss. At any rate, she certainly wasn't about to speak her mind about Cerise to anyone else; however things went with her would do so by themselves. It would be interesting anyway…and amusing.

Nero…perhaps she should go see him. After how horrible her night had turned, maybe he would have some answers for her or at least something to calm the savage anger still coursing through her veins. He was her mentor after all, and despite that he was probably the most messed up of all the Tsviets, he was the sole person she really got along with. He was just as blunt and compassionless as his brother seemed to be, but he didn't purposely try to anger the other Tsviets. She didn't feel that he was competition, nor did he unnerve her like Rosso did. He wasn't solely concerned with power and victory, like Azul was. And he didn't make her suspicious of him, the way Shelke did.

Yes…she would go to see him… And as she left the training room, she knew she'd be able to find him in this vast complex, because she seemed to be slightly in tune with his darkness, could sense where the source of it all was emanating from. And that source would be Nero. Maybe it was the Jenova cells in her body that granted her this ability, or perhaps it was because he brought her here, encased in his darkness. And yet…she hadn't been harmed from it…so thinking along those lines brought it back to the Jenova cells explanation. Whatever the reason was though, she was able to find him easily as she wound a path through all the connecting hallways and levels, her sword still in one hand as she hadn't bothered to return the sheathed blade to its harness across her back.

She pushed open the doors to the room he was in once more without knocking, but he would have already known she was coming anyway; he seemed to always be aware of others' presences. The room was dark, the walls not seeming to be there, but to stretch on forever into oblivion. She could barely even see him in the center of the room, seated on a chair that seemed to meld into the rest of the darkness. Any of the other Tsviets would have been unnerved by a room nearly filled with his darkness as this was, but to her it was almost nothing. And besides…she knew that he wouldn't harm her anyway, that he would keep his darkness under control.

"Nero…" she said quietly, bowing her head in respect as she knelt at his side, setting her sword down on the floor beside her.

"Lucid," he replied simply, his voice soft and lilting with that ever so faint accent.

This was their usual greeting, nothing more, nothing less. They never needed to speak more of a greeting than this, this was always enough. Unlike how they interacted with the rest of the Tsviets. There was always a certain calmness when the two of them were together, no tension or sometimes annoyance like with the others. And yet, despite trusting Nero, despite at this very moment setting her head on his knee, resting one hand on his leg, she would never open up to him completely. She would never open up to _anyone_ completely…never tell them everything. But she could tell him enough, enough for now.

"What is it that he doesn't want me to know?" she said with a sigh, "Why must he hide things from me that I have a right to know?"

"It is Weiss," Nero said slowly, as if that explained everything, "He has his reasons for what he believes you have a right to know, and what you don't have a right to know."

"But he-" she started indignantly.

"Lucid." He said, and she fell silent at the tone of his voice, understanding that by simply saying her name, he was telling her not to argue right now, that he had more to say. "In time, you will know that which he doesn't want you to know, if only you have patience."

"You know I'm not a very patient person, Nero. Patience has never been my thing," Sophronica said quietly.

"You must." He said simply. "In time, all that you wish to know will be revealed. That is the way things go; knowledge cannot remain hidden for ever."

She sighed softly, closing her eyes as she felt him start to stroke her hair, or maybe it was a bit of his darkness, knowing how he was always restrained by that jacket. "If you say so…" she murmured.

She didn't know Nero to be a liar, and usually everything he told her was right, eventually, but she wished that he hadn't been so vague on this. It didn't really make her feel any better, but it did calm her a little. Of course, she knew he wasn't doing this out of kindness exactly; she wasn't even sure that he was capable of kindness; it was more like he understood. And merely stated a few facts to try and stop her from getting herself into more trouble. Of course…conflict with Weiss and the other Tsviets would not be good, and certainly would not be in his best interest, as it would put a strain on all of their plans.

Though…even he knew more than she did, knew more about matters which were restricted to her. Just like he knew that Cerise was standing near the doorway, concealed to the naked eye, but to him standing there very clearly. He knew of the way she was glaring at Sophronica, obviously burning with jealousy, and then a moment later turned and strode off.


	6. Red To Black

Chapter Five – "Red To Black"

**A/N: **Yes! Finally another chapter! To all those who are still sticking with this fic despite the long delays between chapters now, thank you! It seems the older I get, the more problems and responsibilities jump out at me and prevent me from having the time or inspiration to write much of anything. But I promise I'm going to finish this fic, and if I can, I've got ideas for a fifth and a sixth yet. Okay, enough author's babble, onto the actual chapter!

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**Chapter Five – "Red To Black"**

How she'd managed to get any sleep, she didn't know, but it had been just long enough, had been all she really needed. From all of her previous training, she had adapted to being able to function on only a bit of sleep if it was all she could manage. And here she was, crouched on a high fire escape landing on the side of a building, surveying a section of Edge. Searching, searching for that which she couldn't understand or figure out. She was blindly hoping that he would come searching for her again, and that this time she would get the answers she sought.

There had to be a reason that her access to his file was restricted, that no one would speak of him, and instead told her not to worry about it. But what…? What could cause them to…? Unless…it would endanger Deepground if she knew. Could they possibly be afraid that if she discovered this hidden truth, that she would turn on them, try to or succeed in destroying them? But…that didn't seem feasible really; there was no way that she alone had enough power to take out Weiss and the Tsviets, let alone them and their army of Deepground soldiers. Maybe…just maybe…but not likely…

But suddenly, there was a noise that drew her attention, and she turned her gaze down into the street below her to see a motorcycle. The machine itself was nothing remarkable; an old, beat up looking thing, but it was the driver that made her breath catch in her throat, and made her eyes light with a determined flare. From this distance, all she could see was their silver hair, but that alone was enough to make her confident that she had found the one she was looking for.

Without another moment's thought, she leaped over the railing, falling a few feet to hit the landing below. She continued this swift descent until she was on the lowest one. From there, she looked back down the street again, at the swiftly approaching motorcycle, still absolutely certain that she'd found her answers. Calculating distance and speed, she suddenly vaulted off the railing, and even as she was in midair, she was reaching back to draw her sword. By the time her feet hit the ground, she had her sword drawn and held out in front of her.

She thought she saw the driver's eyes widen as he saw her suddenly standing there in the middle of the road, directly in his path. Following this was the sound of tires screeching against pavement as he tried to slow down in time. However, despite his best efforts, he was still forced to swerve around her before finally bringing the motorcycle to a halt.

And that was when, upon turning towards him once more, she discovered that he was not the same person she'd encountered before. The hair was too short, the face was different, everything about him was…wrong. She hadn't been aware that there were so many people with silver hair roaming about, but, from the glimpse she caught of his eyes, she had a feeling that he would still be of use to her.

"You," she said, pointing the tip of her sword at him before lowering it to her side to take a few steps forward, "Who are you?"

"Sophronica!" The young man managed through his surprise, staring at her with wide eyes half hidden behind his silver hair. It was her, it was really her, but something was so very different about her…

"I know who _I_ am, I didn't ask you _that_," she growled, annoyed that yet another person knew her name without her having any idea as to who they were.

"I've been told that you don't remember us," he said, getting off his motorcycle and standing beside it, "So telling you my name would mean nothing to you, wouldn't it?"

"Tell me," she said, her voice low and dangerous as she advanced towards him, intending to back him up against his motorcycle, "I'll find out the truth sooner or later."

"You will," he agreed, darting to the side and backing out of her reach, "But not the way you're going about it."

"Oh?" she said, "And your way's better, is it?"

"You'll have to trust me," he said, "Only then will-"

He was cut off when she suddenly attacked him, evidently pushed to her limit on patience, and ready for answers _now_. She swung her butterfly sword around at him, and he was forced to quickly draw Souba to block her blade from cutting deep into his shoulder.

"Tell me," she growled.

--

A few streets away, Yazoo and Loz had finished a sweep of the rest of Edge, and were intending to meet up with their brother to discuss how they were going to search through the ruins of old Midgar. They didn't know that Kadaj had found Sophronica, nor did they know that they were being watched until it was far too late. An orb of energy came spiraling down from seemingly out of nowhere, almost beautiful in its descent. That is, until it exploded against the pavement some hundred feet in front of them. Though they were both caught off guard, they managed to swerve around the explosion and emerge on the other side of it unharmed.

"Fast little mice," a distinctly feminine voice came from somewhere.

Bringing his motorcycle to a stop, Yazoo looked about, trying but failing to find the source of the voice until she spoke again.

"Up here, boys," she called, and this time they were able to see where she was perched.

A young woman was crouched, balancing, on the railing of a fire escape landing. Her dark purple uniform consisting of tall boots laced and buckled up, low riding pants, and a long sleeved midriff top, all leather, all with vivid blue stripes adorning them, gave away her origins almost as surely as her bright Mako blue eyes that were half hidden behind her wildly spiked lavender hair. It was also certain that she was armed with more than just the twin Sias strapped to her hips, and that she probably hadn't come for a pleasant chat.

"Deepground," Yazoo said quietly, glancing to his brother who'd also stopped a few feet away.

"My, my," she said more than just a little mockingly as she leaned forward, tightening her grip on the railing and allowing herself to swing forward, her feet stretching out towards the ground, "Fast _and_ smart."

Even as she was letting go of the railing and allowing herself to land gracefully on the ground, a dark shadow was forming on the wall of the building. It deepened and darkened even more as she turned to face them, smirking a little. As a tall figure emerged from the darkness, she turned her head a bit towards him.

"Shall we, Nero?" she said, "And detain them from their foolish endeavors?"

"Let us…" he said slowly, quietly, "Teach them not to interfere with Deepground matters."

She grinned at his words, more than just a bit of insanity being shown in that simple action, as she swung her full attention back to the silver haired brothers, studying each of them swiftly. "I'll take the big, silent one," she said to her companion.

"Cerise. The Indigo," she said as she strode towards Loz, her walk more of an arrogant swagger that promised danger and destruction, "Remember that name as I'm slicing you to bits."

--

He had deflected blow after blow that she'd launched, and so far the only damage she'd managed to inflict was a small nick on his cheek that he'd received from the backswing of one of her missed attacks. He was fast, strong enough to deflect her attacks, but she didn't think he'd be able to last forever without receiving more injury. She was more than just a little frustrated, and each blow she struck at him was stronger, driving him backwards towards the side of a building. That would be her advantage; corner him, force him to tell her what she wanted to know.

However, it was like he knew exactly what she planned, for the next time she swung her sword, he ducked under the blade, darted behind her, and delivered a sharp kick to her back. It was a blow he hated to land, but it had the effect that he expected. Thrown off balance, she stumbled forward, smacked into the brick. He heard her growl in anger as she started to turn, and knew he didn't have long. He darted towards her as she turned and started to raise her sword again, driving the Souba forward so that her blade was momentarily caught between the double ones, preventing her from swinging it out at him. Using this brief moment, he dealt a swift elbow to her hand, causing her to let go of her sword as the blow cramped the muscles.

Catching her sword as it fell, he tossed it behind him into the street, rendering her weaponless, but not defenseless. He leaned one arm across her shoulders to push her back against the wall, holding the Souba backhanded to be able to set the twin blades close to her throat. He didn't intend to hurt her, didn't want to hurt her, but hopefully she wouldn't figure that out just yet.

A flicker of uncertainty passed through her eyes, but she smirked nonetheless. "You wouldn't," she said with a bit of a sneer, "You wouldn't da-"

But that was when he silenced her. He leaned closer, knowing that he shouldn't be doing what he was about to do, but unable to stop himself. If they ever managed to get her back to the way she was before…well, then they could worry about it, if it even made any difference in the end, what he was doing. He kissed her deeply, passionately, and despite the anger burning within her, she found herself kissing him back just as fiercely. Though he was thoroughly surprised by this, he didn't stop, instead tilting his head a bit and kissing her more. She opened up to him, her tongue dancing around his, a kiss like he'd never had before.

Definitely the best kiss he'd ever had, as he broke away for air, even if it had been wrong, a stolen kiss. A stolen kiss from a woman who probably _really_ wanted to kill him now, and it could very well be his last kiss, not only because falling in love with a woman besides Sophronica-the one woman he couldn't have-would be impossible, but because if Yazoo ever found out, he'd make quite sure Kadaj would never kiss anyone again. Because he'd kill him. Not that he was going to go around telling anybody about this, but who knew what Sophronica would do…

She was gazing at him with a somewhat dazed expression clouding her eyes, but in a moment he'd discover that it was just a ruse. "You…" she said quietly, "You remind me of Weiss…I hate Weiss…"

And that was when she head butted him, her forehead connecting with his with a sickening crack. The move itself and the force of it caught him off guard and sent him stumbling back a few steps. Well, he thought to himself, there were definitely no misunderstood feelings with that kiss.

--

Cerise dodged around a would-be attack from Loz's Dual Hound and shot an elbow into his shoulder before darting away out of reach. He was faster than she'd expected, a lot faster, but she was fast too, enough to keep up or surpass him. Or so she thought…but she'd find that out later. Cupping her hands together, she started to form an orb of energy between them, intending to launch it at Loz, but she suddenly stopped when she saw Nero freeze. Even from the distance between them, she could see the hazy look entering his deep garnet eyes, and she tilted her head to the side.

Yazoo and Loz paused as well, exchanging glances before returning their attention to the two Tsviets. They were unsure as to what was going on, they didn't know what to expect, if they should attack now while the other two seemed to be distracted, or if they should just wait and keep their guard up.

"Nero?" Cerise questioned, tilting her head to the other side.

"He's calling us back…" He said, his voice sounding as distant as the expression in his eyes.

"What? Right now?" She exclaimed, obviously annoyed, "Can't I finish them off first?" She asked, the orb growing larger between her hands.

"_Now_, Cerise," He said, darkness and shadows already beginning to form behind him.

"_Fine_," she said with an angry snort, as she tossed the energy orb aside where it exploded harmlessly into the pavement, but still left quite a scorch mark, "Next time then."

Even as the darkness was consuming Nero, tendrils of blue energy were emerging from her back. In a few seconds, they'd formed themselves into very solid looking spiked wings, as though made of metal, but blue and translucent. With a last glare to the two brothers, she spread these energy wings and with a few flaps was rising swiftly into the sky.

--

She rolled beneath his kick, coming up behind him and aiming a punch to the back of his head. He dropped to the ground however, spinning about to kick her feet out from under her. As she struggled to keep her balance and her feet, he rose up and slammed his shoulder into her, taking them both down and landing atop her. Using his body weight to hold her down, he quickly grabbed her wrists as she moved to attack him again and pushed them down beside her head.

"Stop this," he demanded, "You sacrificed your life once to save mine, don't you remember that?"

"I don't," she said, struggling against him briefly. Obviously she didn't, now did she? Or else she wouldn't be searching for these answers from her past.

"You will eventually, no matter what it takes," he said, "I swear."

"You swear?" she repeated, as she suddenly pitched him to the side, using her greater weight and strength.

Sitting atop him now, with one hand wrapped around his neck, she glared down at him. "You will tell me everything you know. _Now_."

"In time you'll remember everything, but it can't happen that simply," he said.

"Tell me!" she snarled, drawing back one fist.

But that was when she felt arms wrapping around her, one across her shoulders, the other around her waist, and suddenly she was being lifted up and away from Kadaj. She struggled violently, but whoever was holding on to her had a grip like iron as they held her arms behind her back. She turned her head to the side and saw…him. The one she'd been searching for, the one who said his name was Yazoo, the one who had started all of this. Then…whoever was restraining her…there were three of them, not just two. This mystery kept getting more and more frustrating.

"_You_," she growled at Yazoo, struggling again, but to no avail.

"You'll remember everything," he said, his tone matching the bitter, haunted look in his eyes, "I won't rest until you do."

"Let me go," she demanded lowly, "You can tell me everything you want if you do."

He shook his head sadly, silver hair flitting before his vivid green cat's eyes. "I'm sorry Sophronica; I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice."

She was about to ask what the hell he was talking about when she saw a flash of silver right before the flat of his Velvet Nightmare connected solidly with her head, and everything dissolved into blackness.


	7. Thinking of You

Chapter Six – "Thinking of You"

A/N: Reviews anyone? Sorry about the wait on recent chapters; trying to get college stuff straightened out has put a strain on me. But, here we are, a bare few chapters away from the end of this particular Catalyst. Hope it lives up to the rest of the chapters and all!

**--**

**Chapter Six – "Thinking of You"**

Eventually she stirred, fighting back the black butterflies of unconsciousness. When her eyes fluttered open, she found herself gazing up at a ceiling, she presumed, that slowly came into focus the more she woke up. Her gaze traveled about to what she could see without moving, and just from those little glimpses, she knew she was someplace she'd never seen before. On top of that, she had no idea how long she'd been out, _and_ there was still a faint ringing in her ears from the blow to her head. Groaning softly, she closed her eyes again and raised a hand to her forehead, but stopped when she felt a weight and heard a clinking. Her eyes flew open, and she quickly turned her head to see what the cause of this was.

A shackle, around her wrist. With her eyes, she followed the chain attached to it until she saw that it was bolted into the smooth, seemingly stone, wall. Well…this was unexpected…and aggravating. Were they so intent on having her remember her past that they'd do this? Obviously they were, but this wasn't going as she'd planned. She wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to _remember_ her past, or just _know_ of her past. It seemed like now she didn't have much of a choice though.

"You're awake. Good, I was beginning to worry," a voice said softly from somewhere beyond her line of vision.

Sitting up and turning her head towards the source, she saw Yazoo, sitting with his back against the opposite wall. She narrowed her eyes as she glared at him, saying nothing, but he remained passive. He rose to his feet when she did, matching her motion and never once taking his eyes off of her.

"So now what?" she said, her tone flat as she paced a bit like a caged animal, testing the limit of her restraints.

"Now…you remember. One way or another. I'll make sure of it," he said.

"How?" she asked bluntly, stopping.

He was silent, averting his gaze after a moment, and it was more than answer enough for her.

"You don't know," she said, "You don't know how to make me remember. You can't just _force_ it."

"Maybe I will," he shot back, returning his gaze to her.

Now it was her turn to be silent, gazing at him for a long moment before speaking once again. "These chains won't hold me forever; I could kill you right where you stand."

"But you won't." He said, "Because you want to know. Is that not why you keep asking me to tell you?"

He was right; she couldn't deny that. Though…this wasn't how she'd expected to find out… "So what do you have in mind?" she asked.

He didn't answer at first, and she didn't like the troubled look in his eyes; she wasn't going to like this, was she?

"You'll remember…I promise…" he said quietly, almost inaudibly, as he began pacing slowly back and forth some distance in front of her, well out of her reach.

She watched him without speaking, suddenly more wary than before; he hadn't told her what his plan was, and she was sure now that she wasn't going to like it…whatever it was…

"What do you remember, from about a year ago?" he asked.

"About a year ago?" she repeated, snorting, "You're supposed to be telling me, I don't even remember past a month-"

It was when she was in mid-sentence that the shock came, causing her to flinch and shudder slightly. A weak jolt of Thunder Materia that had caught her totally off guard. For a moment, she could only gaze at him, and then a slight smirk curved her lips, though it was more surprised than anything. "My, my," she said, "Going straight to that are you? I thought you'd try something a little less violent first, like-"

But another shock interrupted her, slightly stronger than the first, just enough to actually sting a little.

"A year ago," He repeated, his tone flat and emotionless.

"I told you I don't remember," she said, the humor gone from her voice now.

"A year ago…you were in Edge, you had amnesia," he said. "That was when we met you. Kadaj made you remember who you were. Are."

She raised an eyebrow at this, "So I have a history of for-"

Another shock that he flung at her, as before cutting her off.

Shaking off the minor pain from it, she glared at him in frustration, "Could you at least let me finish a fucking sen-"

But no, he wasn't going to let her; there was another shock, and she winced slightly.

"Do you remember, trying to take revenge on ShinRa for what they did to you and Sephiroth?" he demanded, his tone hard but his eyes more troubled than before.

"That's the _last_ thing I remember," she shot back, expecting another shock, but receiving none-for the time.

He inclined his head slightly, pausing for a moment. "You were gone for a long time, until we all happened to be in the right place at the right moment."

"So…what exactly are you trying to jar from my mind right now?" she asked.

"What caused us to meet? Why did you come after me?"

She gazed at him for a long moment, but she didn't even remember being in Edge after that horrible explosion at the ShinRa building, let alone what had caused them to meet. "I don't know," she said at last.

There it was; that shock that she'd been expecting before, traveling swiftly through her body and resonating painfully through her teeth. "Why?" he demanded.

"I don't know!" she said through gritted teeth, her annoyance starting to really rise now.

Another jolt left his gloved fingertips, stronger than the last, and when it hit her it drove her to her knees with a wince. He knew she hated this sort of thing, the shocks, she'd told him of it so long ago, but he couldn't let her see how much it pained him to hurt her like this, not now. "Why?" he repeated.

"I…" _I don't know_ was what she'd been about to say, but something made her falter. "I…I couldn't let you take the children…I'd promised Tifa I'd watch out for Denzel…" The words surprised her, coming out of no where and leaving her lips before she'd even been aware that she was saying them. Tifa…? Denzel…? Who were…? Oh…that's right… Tifa was the brunette who owned the Seventh Heaven bar in Edge, and Denzel was one of the orphans she'd taken in…

But…that was just one memory, one piece of this vast jigsaw puzzle, and it really didn't help her very much. So she'd ended up in Edge after her failed attempt to take revenge on ShinRa for everything they'd done to her and her brother. And that was where she'd met…him. This being who was angering her so very much right now.

"So I did meet you before…" she said, rising to her feet once more.

He only nodded, knowing this was but the first step, but…it was a step…and it proved that they could eventually over come whatever Deepground had done to her.

"So what now?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side slightly, still a bit edgy from the fading electricity that was still circuiting through her body.

"After you joined us, we went after Mother, when we knew of her, but Kadaj had you stay behind to deal with Cloud. What happened in your fight with him?" He was pacing a bit again now, his eyes never leaving her.

"Cloud?" She repeated, anger clouding her eyes for a moment, "I don't recall facing off with that blonde devil."

Another shock, weak like the ones before again, but it still made her flinch; it was starting to really bother her. She'd always had a weakness to shocks of electricity, especially like those from the standard issue ShinRa stun rods, and this was no better.

"You must," he said simply.

"I fought him, obviously," she said, for lack of a better response.

"And after?"

"I don't fucking know!" she responded venomously, "You should be telling me all of this!"

She was expecting the shock this time, was somewhat braced for it, but it still stung, still fueled her anger and frustration even more.

"You must remember," he said, his voice not as calm as it had been before.

"I don't," she said, stepping forward until the chains on her wrists brought her to a stop.

A stronger jolt of electricity this time, coursing through her body and making her wince like that other one had. And yet…even as she was reaching the end of her patience, and spun to grab the chains in her hands, it felt like something was opening up inside of her. "I lost to him," she said angrily, giving the chains a good yank, "I fucking lost to him." She planted her feet more firmly and gave the right chain a stronger yank, causing the link that secured it to the brace on the wall to begin to bend, "He ran me through with my own sword and left me trapped there." The more she remembered of that moment, the angrier she became, and the next pull she gave on the right chain snapped the first link all together, leaving her with the chain dangling from that hand, but half way freed nonetheless. "He left me for dead, trapped and poisoned by my own blade." With one particularly violent yank, she snapped the left link all at once, and whirled about, wondering why Yazoo had done nothing to stop her yet.

"And you…" she took a few steps towards him, but stopped as more of this moment in the past returned to her, "You…"

But that was when a figure rushed her from the side, and she only had time to get a glimpse of black and silver before they plowed into her, taking her down to the floor. For a moment, she lied there, having been caught off guard, and having to regain her breath that had been knocked out of her. But then she blinked, cleared her vision and focused on her attacker. It was Kadaj, and the sight of him made her growl softly. Whatever his further intentions were, she didn't wait to find out. Reaching one hand up, she hooked it on the back of his neck, pulling him down to her as she brought her head up swiftly to deliver a dizzying head butt. While he was slightly disorientated, she shoved him to the side and quickly regained her feet.

She noticed as she did so, though, that Yazoo had backed away from the two of them, distancing himself from their fight. She thought this odd, but didn't take too long to ponder it as she returned her attention to Kadaj. As he scrambled quickly to his feet, she grabbed the chain that was still shackled to her left hand, and flung out the end of it like it was the whip she had once wielded. However, before it could reach Kadaj, some one else suddenly grabbed it, giving it a strong pull that made her stumble. Swinging her attention to the side, she saw that it was Loz who had snagged the end of the chain. Annoyed, she tugged on the chain, trying to pull it from his grip, but he wasn't going to let that happen, and yanked the chain again.

As she stumbled forward yet again, he brought his other hand forward, readying his Dual Hound. She saw this, and tried to dodge away just enough to avoid, but he still caught her in the stomach with a heavy blow that sent energy crackling through her body, and made her wince slightly. She'd forgotten how much that hurt-forgotten…? That's right…back when she'd first met them…she'd ended up fighting them all. Only then, she'd lost. But not this time, she wouldn't lose, and she'd find out her past on her own terms.

She moved to backhand Loz across the face, but he swiftly grabbed her wrist, which was exactly what she'd hoped he would do. Using his hold on her wrist and the chain as support, she leaped up and landed a double kick square to his chest. The blow had enough power with it to knock him off balance and so cause him to let go of her in the process. As soon as her feet hit the ground again and she was well enough balanced, she spun about, having sensed Kadaj coming up behind her, and flung the chain out towards him like she'd intended to do before. His reflexes were fast however, and he raised an arm, which the chain wrapped around instead of his neck. With a soft growl of frustration, she pulled hard.

As he stumbled slightly, she was ready with a punch that he, though, managed to just barely dodge. He retaliated with a kick, his left arm still tangled in the chain, and she twisted to the side to avoid it. Yanking again on the chain that had them momentarily connected, she ducked behind him and delivered a kick to his back that made him stumble. The chain was beginning to loosen its hold, and so she took the opportunity to grab him by the arm, and with a heave, send him flying across the room. The chain untangled in midair just in time so that she wasn't dragged along with him, and a second later, he crashed into the wall, his head connecting with a solid thunk. He slid to the floor and was motionless-for the moment unconscious.

Hearing heavy footsteps behind her, she spun around to face Loz before he could manage to catch her off guard. Knowing that he was most likely going to be a tough adversary, she quickly wrapped each of the chains around her wrists and hands, providing her with weapons just as efficient, if not more so, than if she had a pair of brass knuckles. She crouched slightly, ready for the slightest movement, waiting for him to act first as he eyed her. She didn't have to wait long, as a second later, he moved. Fast as lightning, he charged at her, reaching out for a blow with his Dual Hound. Moving swiftly herself, she spun to the side, avoiding the initial blow but not able to see nor the dodge the one he dealt to her back. She felt it though, and stumbled a few steps as the energy from it surged through her, similar but some how worse than when Yazoo had been shocking her.

Whirling about to face Loz once more, she lashed out with a kick that he dodged. She threw a punch while he was still in mid-motion, and it landed on his shoulder, knocking him slightly off balance. Taking advantage of this, she dealt him a roundhouse kick to the chest, and when he stumbled back, teetering on the very edge of balance, she lunged at him. When the weight of her body hit him, he did indeed fall, landing below her as she knelt on his chest, her knees on his shoulders. Without a moment's hesitation, she dealt him three swift punches, her hands still wrapped in the chains. The first blow split his lips, the second broke his nose, and finally, the third rendered him unconscious.

With both distractions now taken care of for the moment, she rose to her feet, letting the chains fall from around her hands. As she turned, her gaze landed on Yazoo, who had remained passively in the same spot during all of this. How he could have just stood there, and watched his brothers be defeated like that, she didn't know. She also didn't know what he was thinking, if he was planning something. If she should be cautious to some trick, or something of the sort. And yet, no alarm bells rang in her head, something told her that she could beat him mercilessly and he wouldn't lift a hand against her, but…it didn't make sense…why would he…?

With a low growl, she crossed the room swiftly to where he still stood, watching her with an expression that she couldn't quite read. As soon as she was close enough, she threw herself against him, taking him down to the floor much like she'd done to Loz. Her previous assumptions seemed to be correct, as he didn't even struggle as she sat astride him, glaring down at him.

"You!" She snarled angrily, the one word an accusation as she wrapped her hands around his neck. "This is all because of you! All this trouble, all this frustration!"

Yazoo was silent, unmoving as he gazed up at her, his green cat's eyes far from blank though, in fact, churning with emotions. And yet he said not a word.

"I know that I knew you before," she said, tightening her grip slightly, "I know you have a place in my past; you all do, but…"

He still said nothing, made no move against her.

"But what is this force that stops me from killing you?" she continued, her hold on his neck tighter now, "It was…you were…you saved me, when Cloud left me for dead, but…I don't understand why. I don't know why…. Am I supposed to remember?"

He held his silence.

"Answer me, dammit," she demanded, but her tone wasn't that angry anymore, it was more confused and uncertain, "Tell me…why do I feel this way? Why…"

"Sophronica." He spoke at last, his voice so soft and yet commanding her full attention with just that one word, the way he said her name.

She fell silent, her eyes searching his as she waited for him to say something more.

He laid one gloved hand over both of hers, raising his other ever so softly to the side of her face, and for some reason she trembled slightly at his touch. "You're feeling love," he said, so soft and smooth like velvet, "Our love. You have to remember it all; we need you here. Faye's missed you so much, we all have."

She didn't say anything, trying to comprehend what he was saying. Their love? Faye? Who was Faye? That name…seemed so very familiar to her, caused these emotions to swell up within her, but stayed just out of her reach. But…the first thing he'd said…their love. It was like he'd tried to tell her the other night, when she'd encountered him in the Midgar ruins. So hard to believe that it was only the previous night; with everything that had happened already, it felt like an eternity ago.

"It's time for you to come home." He was saying now, his voice breaking her from her thoughts, "I know you're strong enough to undo what Deepground did to you. Look what you've already overcome…"

But suddenly, she was moving, releasing him and drawing back. Rising to her feet, she backed away slowly, shaking her head a bit. She seemed to want to say something, to be on the very edge of it, but she didn't. She only turned away and fled from the room with only the sound of her hurried footsteps and the clinking of the chains shackled to her wrists.


	8. How Many Words

A/N: Yay! A review! Thankies! And yes, two chapters in one day! This one went by fast, surprisingly. It's kind of short though, but it's got the same quality.

--

**Chapter Seven – "How Many Words"**

He didn't know why she had suddenly fled, but he knew, as he stood in the doorway of the Forgotten Capital, his gaze traveling over the Sleeping Forest, the trees seeming to glow even more in the night, that she hadn't gone far. She was out there, somewhere, close. Just like he'd always been able to tell where his brothers were, this sixth sense had been extended to her, so it seemed, upon meeting her.

Before he'd come out here to begin looking for her, he'd made sure Loz and Kadaj were all right. For the most part, they were fine, though neither of them were very happy about Sophronica beating them so easily, or having to fight her at all in the first place. And of course Loz, admiring and caring for his older sister very much, was all sniffles and whimpers over the brutality that she'd shown him in their brief fight. And also, of course, this annoyed Kadaj a bit. But their slight bickering was a welcome scene to Yazoo; it helped to prove that they were both all right.

He wasn't sure where he was going, as he made his way through the forest, he was just following his senses, hoping that they would lead him to her. Everything was so still, so silent, nothing giving any physical clue to where she was. That is, until he came across one of the shackles on the ground. Good; she'd managed to get them off, and it meant that he was probably getting closer to her. After another bit of walking, he spotted the second shackle, and he didn't need his sixth sense to tell him that he'd found her. No, the sound of her voice told him that.

"I don't remember events, before you ask," her voice came from somewhere, "I just…have these feelings."

Trying to locate where exactly she was, he said, "I wasn't going to ask that at all. I'm curious as to why you ran."

"It all just hit me…all these emotions, you know?" she said, "It made me wonder what I was doing, what I'd been doing."

Finally, he looked up, his gaze searching through the trees, "So now you understand…at least a little…my reaction when I saw you last night."

"I guess…I mean, yeah," she said, "It doesn't make much sense, because I only remember a few things, but…"

As she paused, he at last spotted her; she was about half way up one of the trees above him, stretched out on one of the wide limbs, her hands behind her head as she gazed up at the night sky.

"But…" she continued, "You, me, love?" she laughed a little, but it was an uncertain sound, "I guess I must be lucky…to have some one who'd go to such lengths for me…"

"It is I, who is lucky, to have _you_," he said, somewhat quietly.

She sat up at that, looking down at him and tilting her head to the side, "And why's that?"

He shook his head a bit, "I'll…tell you later."

She didn't push it, instead just laying back down, letting one foot dangle absently over the side of the limb.

Now…now it was coming to a most important part. "So…what do you think of Deepground?" he asked slowly.

"Deepground?" she repeated with a snort, "Deepground itself is fucked up. As for the Tsviets…well, Nero is all right. All the others can go to hell for all I care."

"Why Nero?" he asked, inclining his head slightly.

"Nero brought me there, he's my mentor…" she said almost automatically, but then stopped once the words had left her lips. Nero brought her there…that meant that he… "He stole me away from all of this, then, didn't he?" she finished aloud.

Yazoo nodded, though she wasn't looking at him to even see the motion. "They did this to you. They hid your past from you."

She sat up again, swinging her legs to the side so that she could sit facing him somewhat as she looked down at him. "I knew it…I just knew it, that they'd been keeping everything from me. But I don't understand why, why did they have to lock away my memories?" she thought out loud, "You know they have files on you, all of you, but they're restricted from me…"

"It's simple; they took you from your family. If you knew, you wouldn't be a good little Tsviet for them," he said.

"Of course…" she said after a moment, "But…I get the feeling they're almost actually afraid of me remembering, or finding out. What the hell could I do, to make them so worried?"

He smiled a bit, but it was full of dark mirth, "You are his sister. The last true thread. The power you've gained over this time we've known you…makes you even stronger than you were before," he said, "So thus you're quite valuable to them, I would imagine. For who you are, what you are. Certainly more valuable to them alive than dead, or causing them problems and set back."

That definitely had to be the most she'd ever heard him say all at once…though she couldn't really judge…but it still felt so. She averted her gaze to the tree limb on which she sat once he was finished, mulling all this over. So…it was all as she'd thought it had been; her reason for hating Weiss. Well, one of her reasons anyway. And they _were_ afraid of her…but really…could she alone cause that much damage to Deepground? They had hundreds of soldiers, let alone the Tsviets.

"They're not going to let you go, you know," he said, his voice disrupting her thoughts, "If you decide to leave them. They're going to come after you."

She looked back to him again, inclining her head slightly in a curious manner. "So what do you have in mind?"

"We take them down," he said simply.

"But how?" she asked, "The odds aren't exactly in our favor."

"The same way we've always dealt with things when the odds are against us," he replied, "Without the Tsviets, without Weiss, their leader, Deepground will crumble."

"Weiss is nearly unstoppable," she said, giving her head a bit of a shake, making her long silver bangs flit about her face.

"If you're with us, we can do it," he said.

"But Weiss has bested me every time I even thought of stepping up against him; his power is so far out of my league," she insisted with a sigh.

"You can do it," he said firmly, his obvious confidence in her not making her feel any better about it in the least.

"This is crazy," she said with a small laugh, "I'm actually considering throwing away everything I have with Deepground over some feelings and a couple memories from my past."

"Would you rather stay with them?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Stay with Weiss?" she snorted, sliding forward off the branch and falling swiftly down to the forest floor, landing in a slight crouch beside him, "Fuck no. I'll do whatever I have to, to take him down." She straightened, shaking her long silver hair back over her shoulders.

He met her gaze, a slight smile tugging at his lips. So; she was with them.

"You think the other two will trust me?" she asked with a slight laugh, crossing her arms, "I mean, I _did_ kinda beat the shit out of them…a couple times now…"

"Of course they will; we're family," he replied easily.

"Well…all right then…" she said, obviously not yet used to that idea, "So, why don't we head back, and we can discuss our battle plans…and you can give me back my sword," she added, slightly annoyed at its absence; a warrior was never without their weapon, and she was no exception.

"Of course," he said, and when he met her gaze again, she felt a flutter in her stomach at the sight of his hauntingly beautiful green cat's eyes.

Such odd feelings, this definitely was…well, she'd just have to worry about that when things had calmed down. For now…she had to figure out how she was going to take down Weiss…and any of the other Tsviets…


	9. Suffocating

**A/N: **I am so, so, so sorry this chapter took so long to complete. I was suffering through a horrible case of writer's block, as well as being caught up in real life things. Of course, writing a final fight between Weiss and Sophy wasn't a picnic by itself either, hehe. I kept worrying if I was overplaying his strength, or underplaying it, etc, etc. Well, anyway, enough babble, enjoy the chapter. Reviews anyone? (And yes, I do have kind of a crush on Weiss myself…which is evident in Sophy, hehe).

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**Chapter Eight – "Suffocating"**

The sound of leather and wings flapping in the night heralded her arrival at the Midgar ruins where the Deepground base was. Furling her wing close to her body until it vanished in a slight haze, she let her energy wing fade out, not needing them anymore now that she was here. Raking a hand back through her long silver hair, she strode towards the seemingly deserted building, knowing which way to go through the destruction that led to a hidden elevator. Punching in the proper code, she stepped inside when the doors opened.

Waiting while the doors closed after her and the elevator began its descent, she shifted slightly. She still wasn't sure how she was going to take down Weiss, or how the other three were going to be able to handle the other Tsviets. Also…she was still a little unsure about if this was all worth it. True, she remembered a few things from her past now; she had agreed to join the three who claimed to be her family, to take down Deepground, but…. It was these emotions that she felt, that she was going on. These emotions that told her that these three were very important to her, and she had to be by their side, as was the proper way. Emotions that said…Yazoo was very special to her…

She was broken from her thoughts when the elevator reached its destination and the doors slid open. Gathering her composure once more, she moved forward and down the long hallway that led to a set of large, heavy double doors. Upon her entering a code in the panel on the wall beside them, they opened for her, and she found herself at last in the Deepground base. Making her way to the second elevator, she punched the down button and waited impatiently while passing DG soldiers gave her curious looks. She ignored them however, and stepped in swiftly when the doors opened for her.

When she at last reached the final floor, she took a deep breath as the doors slid open. Another hallway, this one with some rooms branching off from it, but none of them measured up to the size of the main room, the room where Weiss no doubt was. However, as she was making her way down the hall, a red light flashed overhead, and her pulse quickened; had their presence been detected already? Though, she couldn't let on that she knew anything of this, lest he discovered too soon what she was up to.

Easily pushing open the steel double doors, she strode a few feet into the room before stopping, her gaze sweeping the area before coming to a rest on Weiss. He stood near the middle of the room, his back to her, and for a moment, she thought this a bit odd. That is, until she took into consideration the alarm going off, and figured it probably wasn't so odd after all.

"Weiss," she called, her tone demanding his attention.

However, he didn't move at the sound of her voice.

"We have company," he said at last.

"I've noticed," she replied, taking another step forward.

"I've sent Nero, Rosso and Cerise to give them a warm welcome," Weiss said, turning his head slightly at the sound of her footsteps.

"What of Azul and Shelke?" she asked with a frown.

"Azul is busy with other matters," he replied coolly, "And Shelke won't be joining us."

"I see," she said simply, processing this information.

"Was there a reason for disturbing me?" he asked.

She nodded, though he couldn't see, "Yes, Weiss," she said, "There's something we must discuss."

As she spoke, she raised one hand a bit, palm up, and let a fireball begin to form between her fingers.

"Well?" he asked, waiting for her to continue.

But she said no more, and instead loosed the fireball, aiming it directly at the center of his back. However, at the last minute, he suddenly sidestepped and whirled about. She blinked in surprise; how could he have known?

"I'm disappointed in you, Lucid," he said.

"I've been left with no choice," she replied, drawing her sword.

"No choice?" Weiss repeated, "You'd betray everything I've given you and join with them?"

"Enough," she said, "You've caused this. Now it's time to end it."

"If that's what you want," he replied with a sigh.

And then he was moving. She shifted to brace herself against whatever attack was coming, but it was useless. In the time it took her to blink, there was a sharp pain shooting through her stomach, and for a second, she thought that she'd been run through. As she stumbled, she realized that he'd only hit her with his bare hands. She started to turn, trying to keep him in sight, but he spun behind her and drove an elbow into her back. Stumbling again, she started to fall, but quickly caught herself as she tried to shake off the pain.

Whirling about, she swung her sword in an arc, only to find that he was no longer behind her. Her heart hammering, she turned again to see where he was, but when she did, her actions were met with a fist square to her face. The force of the punch was enough to knock her back off her feet and send her sprawling on the floor. Slightly disorientated, she raised her head, feeling warmth trickling down over her lips, and knew that he'd broken her nose-yet again. Wiping the blood from her face with the back of her hand, she climbed to her feet, using her sword to steady her until she'd regained her balance.

She found it odd that Weiss would be so kind as to let her get her feet beneath her, but the moment she stood, he drew his twin gunblade katana and opened fire on her. Before she had a chance to dodge, a bullet ripped through her shoulder, causing her to wince slightly. As she started to duck for cover, because she was fast, but not fast enough to dodge all of _those_ bullets, another winged her leg. She kept moving however, until she'd reached the relative safety of the groups of power units, and slid behind one. It wouldn't do her much good for long, but it would do for the moment.

Crouching on the floor, she touched the hole in her leather coat, her fingers coming away slick with her blood. It wasn't an incredibly serious wound, but it was bleeding a lot and weakened her somewhat in that arm. Well, at least she could be thankful now that she wasn't right handed. The wound on her thigh didn't concern her too much; it had mostly caught her leather pants and only a bit of flesh. It still stung, of course, but it was so minor compared to her shoulder that she forget of it soon enough.

She ducked her head down a bit more as a bullet whizzed uncomfortably close to her ear, hearing the rest of them ricocheting off the various metal and steel parts in the room. Then, all at once he stopped firing, and her ears rang for a few seconds with the sudden quiet. She had to figure out some way to put him down and out-permanently-but how? He was so much faster than her, and stronger too, maybe even stronger than Sephiroth. She hadn't really come in here with any sort of plan, unlike she'd assured Yazoo.

"Hiding like a scared rabbit," Weiss said in a seemingly chiding tone.

Ignoring him, only listening for the sounds of his footsteps to determine where he was, she shifted her sword to her right hand for the moment, and let flames begin to lick at the fingertips of her left hand.

"You said you wanted to put an end to this," he continued, "Then why are you hiding?"

Wincing as slight pain flared briefly in her temples, she watched the fireball growing in the palm of her hand, the dancing flames a welcome sight.

"Could it be that you know you will not be able to best me?"

She was unable to help herself at this, and snorted in mirthless laughter. "Really," she said, "Could you be any more fucking full of yourself?"

It was then that she moved, swiftly rising to her feet and spinning around the side of the power unit. Before she'd even caught sight of him, having determined basically where he was, she let the fireball fly from her fingertips. Even as it was traveling, she shifted her sword back to her left hand, and charged at him. As he was moving to avoid the fireball, she raised her sword and slashed down at his shoulder. He stepped back swiftly, the tip of her blade only lightly catching his skin and drawing a thin red line across his shoulder. Still, the fact that she'd managed to hit him brought a smirk to her lips; maybe he wasn't as amazingly undefeatable as he thought himself to be.

She brought her sword around again, and this time he blocked with one katana, while swinging the other at her head. Ducking swiftly, she sidestepped the blow and attacked for a second time. Once more, he blocked with ease, at the same time raising his other katana. Even as she was moving to dodge, the flat of the blade connected with the side of her head and caused her to stumble hard. With her ears ringing and a shock of pain running down her spine from the blow, she struggled to keep her balance as he advanced towards her.

Now on the defensive, she blocked his attacks, sometimes being forced to take a step back to avoid serious injury. It was clear to her that her one blade against his two was not working out in her favor, and she would have no choice but to separate her sword, and wield the second with her injured arm. However, it was as she took a couple of steps back to buy her enough time, just a few seconds, to enable the mechanism that separated the blades, that it happened.

Catching her completely off guard, he _threw_ one of his katana at her. She didn't have the chance to dodge, and so the blade pierced her injured shoulder-right through the spot where he'd shot her before. The force of it sent her reeling backward, and after only a few steps, she hit the wall, the katana embedding into the metal with a tearing sound. Grimacing, she bit her lip for a second and fought to keep the pain from showing on her face-she didn't want to allow him that kind of satisfaction. However, from his smug expression, she had a feeling that it showed anyway.

Putting her sword in her right hand, she raised her left to grip the katana blade to pull it free, but before she could even attempt to, he'd covered the distance between them and grabbed the gun handle of the blade.

"You know," he said slowly, twisting the blade just as slowly in her shoulder, "If you surrender now…I'll consider sparing your life."

"Fuck you," she said, a bit of a growl in her voice from pain and anger both.

She raised her left hand, and punched him. Hard. To her delight, she saw that the blow split his cheek and drew blood. However, it also caused his blue eyes to darken with anger and annoyance.

As she drew her fist back to punch him a second time, but he back stepped swiftly, pulling his katana from her shoulder as he did so. Finding herself suddenly free, she ignored the throbbing pain in her bleeding shoulder, and raised her sword in her good hand, moving forward to attack. He blocked easily and struck a lightning quick blow that caught her across her side, the tip of the blade dipping under her coat, snaring the bit of exposed skin between the top of her pants and the bottom of her vest.

She didn't even acknowledge the wound, as she slashed forward with her sword again. Once more, he blocked, spinning around to avoid her next attack as well. She gave a growl of frustration, starting to turn to keep him in sight. However, as she was doing so, he came up behind her, and in the blink of an eye, he had his katana crossed in front of her. She froze as she felt the blades against the sides of her neck, realizing that, if he so wished, he could take off her head with ease.

So…this would be it; he had her, and she couldn't imagine him giving her another chance, like earlier. Weiss was many things, but merciful was not one of them.

"As you've wished, all of this has come to an end," he said into her ear, his closeness making her wish she could pull away.

She had to think of something, she still had a chance. She just…had to take him down.

"You're a disappointment, Lucid," he said, and she felt the blades biting into her skin.

And then it came to her; an idea…risky, dangerous, probably stupid, but it was an idea nonetheless, and something he most likely wouldn't expect her to do. It just might work…

"My name," she said lowly, shifting her grip on her sword and bracing herself for what she was about to do, "Is Sophronica."

She moved swiftly, raising her sword out in front of her, holding it reverse so that the blade tip was towards her. Hesitating for only a fraction of a second, she plunged her sword into her stomach, angling the blade up so that-she hoped-it would pierce into his chest. She felt him jerk, noticed the change in his breathing, and despite the pain, she couldn't help but to smirk.

Yanking her sword free, she stumbled away, pushing his katana aside easily. Pressing her hand to the wound on her stomach in an attempt to staunch the bleeding, she turned to face him, raising her sword in her other hand. She found it an eerie sight, that he was still standing there, seemingly so calm, despite the blood running down his bare chest. She saw that she'd missed of course-missed his heart, that is, otherwise she didn't think even some one as strong as he would be able to still stand.

"Still disappointed?" she asked, forcing herself to stand straight and lift her chin in a show of nonchalance.

He didn't say a word, only smirked, but she found that as all the answer she needed.

Fighting off the pain that rolled over her in waves now, she tightened her grip on her sword, and rushed forward. She was weakened now, yes, but she also hoped that he was weakened enough for her to defeat him. After all; she'd only taken the blade through her stomach. Painful, eventually deadly, but more manageable than being stabbed so close to the heart. She moved her other hand from the wound on her stomach, gripping the hilt of her sword with it as well, even though her leather glove was slick with blood. She would need all the strength she could muster right now if she were to take him down.

She swung her sword around in a tight arc, only for him to block and dodge to the side. She swung again, bringing her blade down in a move to cleave through his shoulder, but he deflected her attack with one katana, slashing the other towards her face. Swiftly, she leaned back as far as she could-and keep her balance-to avoid this, wincing as the motion tugged at her wound. Straightening, she pulled her sword towards him again, her eyes fierce with determination. He moved back to evade the blow, but her blade still sliced through his side, resulting in a moderately deep wound that promptly began to bleed.

Now it was her turn to smirk; he was slowing. He wasn't as fast and agile as he'd been before, not with all the blood he was losing. She moved towards him again, feigning a blow to his shoulder that he moved to block, and instead spun around to drag her blade across his back. As he stumbled a step, she could have sworn she heard him grunt in pain, but she might have been wrong, because the next moment he whirled and delivered a hard kick to her stomach. Trying her hardest not to cry out as the blow alighted pain that spread like fire from the wound, she fell back, losing her balance on the steel floor that was, in places, becoming slick with blood.

She hit the floor hard, her head connecting and causing black spots to explode across her vision. However, she shook them away, forcing herself to focus her vision. She looked up just in time to see Weiss stabbing one of his katana down at her, and barely managed to roll out of the way, so that the blade tore through the metal where her head had been a split second before. He repeated the action, and as before, she rolled out of the way, now managing to regain her footing. Even as she was springing to her feet, she lashed out with one foot, the kick connecting with his shin, resulting in a cracking sound as he stumbled.

And yet still, as she spun around to face him, he managed to stay on his feet, that dark glitter never leaving his blue eyes. She was beginning to get a little worried again now; just how much could he take?

Shifting her grip on her sword, her left hand wrapped around the hilt, her other cupping the end for added support, she rushed at him, raising her blade up in front of her. Meeting her assault, he moved swiftly towards her, beginning to raise his katana as well. They met with enough force to almost throw her off balance, a blade piercing through skin and bone, embedding deep. She leaned into him more, using those precious few seconds to regain proper footing.

For those following seconds, the room was suddenly, oddly silent, a slightly startled expression flitting ever so briefly through those incredible blue eyes. She was breathing hard, leaning her weight on the blade of her sword that was pierced into his chest, emerging through his back, just a bit more accurately aimed than her previous blow had been. Her own attack had stopped his just in time, one katana biting into the side of her already injured neck, the other cutting through the side of her vest, having hit skin and drawn blood.

She pushed her blade in deeper, twisting it a bit, only inches between their faces, her eyes never leaving his, their intensity forbidding her to look away. He lowered his katana, the sudden clatter as they slipped from his hands breaking the silence and seeming twice as loud as normal. She pulled away a bit, keeping her sword where it was, but when she moved to yank it to the side, he suddenly backhanded her across the face, the force of the blow knocking her back off her feet.

Trying to regain her composure as quickly as possible, not sure if this was yet enough to take him down, she pushed herself up on her elbows, trying to shake the ringing from her ears. As she watched with shortened breath, he proceeded to painstakingly pull her blade from his chest, each motion of it making his blood flow faster. When he had finished, he threw her bloody sword over his shoulder, where it skittered across the floor…and dropped over the edge into the pit that led all the way down to the Mako pools in the deepest reaches of the DG base.

She felt a cold rush through her veins; if he still had any fight left in him, she would be utterly screwed without a weapon, and she didn't think she'd be able to get her hands on either of his katana so long as he was still alive. However, he wasn't standing for much longer, as a moment later he fell to one knee, the blood from his wounds pouring down his chest, soaking into his pants, and beginning to pool around him. Yet still, his expression was calm, as if he were just resting, like he was _not_ gravely injured, and she found it a little unnerving, as well as commendable.

He turned his gaze to her, a slight smile tugging briefly at his lips, "I…admire your resilience…Sophronica."

She didn't answer him, but she wouldn't have gotten a chance even if she'd wanted to; no sooner had he spoken, then he fell the rest of the way to the floor, where he lay unmoving. She watched him warily for a few moments, but she knew that he wasn't going to be getting back up again. Breathing a sigh of relief, she lowered herself down again, taking a minute to try and regain some of her strength. She was so tired though, and she wanted nothing more than to just sleep for a while. A little nap wouldn't hurt, would it? But no, no, she couldn't do that; she knew that if she fell asleep in this state, she might never wake up. Besides…her brothers were counting on her. _Yazoo_ was counting on her.

With these thoughts, she rolled over on to her side and slowly pushed herself up to her feet, groaning as she did so. If only she'd been able to master heal Materia-but healing had never been her thing really, almost like the healing properties of the Materia rejected her use.

Before she left though, she'd need some kind of weapon to replace her butterfly sword; she very well couldn't go out there and expect to fight the Tsviets, and possibly a whole lot of DG soldiers, with her bare hands. Holding one hand over her bleeding stomach wound, she made her way over to where Weiss lay, and stooped to pick up his fallen gunblade katana. The handles fit in her hands perfectly, and the weight of the blades felt good. Heaven and Hell, the weapons of her once greatest opponent, now belonged to her. After all; to the victor go the spoils.

Sliding one into the empty sheath across her back, she carried the other as she made her way somewhat slowly out of the large room, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind her. She'd never have to look into those devilish blue eyes ever again, never see that infuriatingly smug smirk of his, or that perfectly toned body…. Okay, perhaps now she'd admit to herself that she'd had somewhat of a crush on Weiss…if only for his power and prowess. But that was all behind her now, and it was time to once more take control of her own life.


	10. Cyanide

**A/N:** I apologize for taking so long to update this chapter; many IRL things distracted me, along with a case of writer's block. But here it is, finally. And thank you to Yazoo IS Superior, for you PM, it reminded me how long I've been stopped on this fic, and gave me the motivation to get past my writer's block =)

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**Chapter Nine – "Cyanide"**

The elevator to the top level of the Deepground base seemed to be taking forever. It felt like she'd been waiting inside for hours already, and her vision was starting to fade in and out, wavering like a weak television reception. It didn't seem to matter that she had her hand pressed firmly over her stomach; the blood still leaked just as easily between her fingers to drip to the floor of the elevator compartment.

She was still so tired…maybe a little nap wouldn't be so bad after all…. However, it was just as her eyes were starting to slip shut, that the elevator stopped and the doors began to slide open. This roused her; she had to be alert and on guard in case there were Deepground soldiers waiting out there. Straightening a bit from where she'd been slumped back against the wall of the elevator, she raised one gunblade katana in front of her, ready to either slash or shoot.

Through half closed eyes, she watched as the doors slid open all the way, revealing a figure standing there, also seemingly just as alert as her, aiming a weapon at her. Neither of them moved however, as they took in the sight of the other. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision, and let her gaze wander up whoever was standing there. Black leather…an awfully familiar firearm…long silver hair…. And those eyes. She knew those eyes.

"Sophronica!"

His voice cut through the haze surrounding her, and she smiled a bit as she lowered her blade, slumping back against the wall again. "Hey," she said, her voice surprisingly weak, "You were right."

"You're bleeding," he said, concern evident in his silken voice as he stepped into the elevator with her, his gaze flickering to her wounds.

"Yeah," she said, "But I got him." She pushed herself away from the wall, attempting to stand on her own, "Now to take out the other Tsviets."

However, as she started to move forward, her legs buckled and she began to fall. Swiftly, he caught her in his arms, holding her gently, but protectively close to him.

"You're not doing anything in this state," he said, holstering Velvet Nightmare and picking her up as if she weighed next to nothing.

"But…" she started to protest weakly, but was silenced with one stern look as he carried her out of the elevator.

"I refuse to lose you again," he said quietly, setting her down just outside the elevator so that she could lean back against the wall.

He was scared, worried. She realized it at that moment, and dropped her gaze to the floor. She wished now more than ever that she could remember everything. She wanted to remember…especially him.

"I'll be fine," she said softly, looking up to him again as he knelt next to her.

"Of course you will be," he said, not meeting her gaze as he began to heal her wounds with Materia.

"How are the others?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"Holding up…but not for much longer," he said, focusing on what he was doing, "They need our help."

She nodded a bit, "Gladly."

She was grateful for his help; she knew that without it she would have bled to death. But now, the pain from her wounds was beginning to abate, and she didn't feel so weak anymore. She wouldn't be as strong as she could be, of course, but she would stand a hell of a lot better chance against those three Tsviets than she would have before.

"Yazoo…"

Finally, at the sound of his name, he looked to her, inclining his head slightly in a questioning manner.

However, suddenly finding herself looking into his beautiful, haunting green eyes, she was unable to continue with what she'd wanted to say, as if the words had been snatched from her throat. Though, she soon found an action that was the equivalent of her lost words.

Reaching out, she slid one hand to the back of his neck, gently, but firmly pulling him closer to her, and kissed him. It was soft and tender, and sent a tingle down her spine. When they parted, they remained close, foreheads nearly touching, and she almost felt intoxicated by his closeness. Perhaps he felt it too, because this time he kissed her. A deep, passionate kiss that stole her breath away and just…felt so right. She found herself kissing him back, her passion matching his, and for a few fleeting seconds, the thought of battles yet to come, and everything else around them faded out.

When they parted again, however, everything came rushing back, and weighed heavy in their hearts. For a moment, they gazed into each other's eyes, until at last she nodded slightly, and he drew back. He rose to his feet and held out his hand to her, which she accepted, letting him help her to stand as well.

"Are you all right now?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, nodding, "Thank you…"

She knew there were still difficult battles to come, but she also knew that they would succeed. Or…she hoped they would. They'd come too far to lose now, especially after she almost died defeating Weiss.

"When we get out there…" she said as they made their way down the hall that led out to the Midgar ruins, "I want you to help Kadaj and Loz deal with Rosso. I can take care of Nero and Cerise."

"But-" he started.

"No. Listen to me. No offense, but I don't think any of you stand much of a chance against Nero's darkness," she said, "I'm at least somewhat immune."

Yazoo was silent for a moment as they walked. "Are you sure?" he asked at last.

"Yes. I'll be fine. You just worry about Rosso," she replied, looking over at him.

He sighed a bit, "Fine."

When they emerged from the Deepground base, her gaze swept over the ruins to the fight that was ensuing between the other two and Rosso; yeah, they could definitely use Yazoo's help. However, she noticed that Nero and Cerise were merely being sideline spectators to this fight. She supposed this was a good thing, though, or else there wouldn't _be_ a fight anymore. She gave one last look to Yazoo, nodding as she watched him head off to join his brothers against Rosso.

Turning, she started to make her way to where Nero was, but suddenly a form dove down from the night sky and plowed into her side, knocking her off her feet. As she lay there for a moment, the wind knocked out of her, blinking in surprise, she saw who it was who had tackled her; Cerise. The younger woman was glaring down at her with her bright Mako blue eyes as she was held suspended a few feet off the ground with her energy wings.

Quickly, Sophronica got to her feet, but as soon as she did, the Indigo soldier flung an orb of energy at her, causing her to dive to the side to avoid it. Rolling easily to her feet, she charged at Cerise, but the other woman merely rose up out of the way with a few simple flaps. Spinning around to gaze up at her, Sophronica backed up a step. There was no way she was going to win this battle from the ground, not with Cerise flitting about like that. After a moment's concentration, her set of un-matching wings flared from her back, and as she gave them a good flap that easily sent her up into the air to Cerise's height, she reached back and drew her second gunblade katana from the sheath.

"_Those_," Cerise growled, her narrowed eyes moving to the weapons Sophronica held, "So you've killed him."

"I had no choice," she said simply, as she'd told Weiss himself earlier.

"No choice?" Cerise repeated, cupping her hands to form another energy orb, "Of course you did. Everyone has a choice."

"Not with the path I've decided on," Sophronica replied, flapping her wings once more to remain airborne, watching the other woman closely so as to not be caught off guard.

"Then you've decided to become a traitor," Cerise said with a bit of a growl, throwing the collected energy in her opponent's direction.

Sophronica spun to the side to avoid the attack, though didn't retaliate yet, "If that is what it takes to be with the ones I care about, so be it."

"Love, caring?" Cerise spat, drawing her Sias, "What would you know about that?"

"What would _you_?" Sophronica countered, charging towards the younger woman.

Cerise caught the blades of Heaven and Hell in the prongs of her Sias, holding her opponent off and flapping hard so she wouldn't be pushed backwards through the air.

"I know how you feel about him," Sophronica said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Cerise snapped, blinking in surprise.

"About Nero," she continued, her blue-green cats eyes serious, "You should just take him and get far away from here; I don't want to kill either of you."

Cerise gazed at her for a long moment-maybe, just maybe she'd take the offer, "Fuck you," she replied, smashing her forehead against Sophronica's.

The move caught her by surprise, but didn't do as much damage as the Indigo soldier seemed to hope it would. As she reeled backwards, flapping her wings to keep afloat, Cerise slashed at her with her Sias. Sophronica managed to avoid one, but the middle prong of the other cut into her cheek, leaving a long, bleeding scratch. Straightening, she tightened her grip on the gunblade handles, bringing both katana around in reverse arcs. Cerise blocked one blade with a Sia, ducked under the other, and stabbed the other Sia at her opponent.

Deflecting the attack with one katana, Sophronica tucked her wings in to spin about, driving an elbow into the Indigo soldier's back. Cerise grimaced, falling a few feet before catching herself. Holding both her weapons in one hand, she cupped her other, a ball of energy swiftly forming there. Turning back to the older woman, she flung the orb at her. It caught Sophronica in the side despite her attempt to dodge, and she winced. As Cerise prepared to throw another orb, her silver-haired opponent leveled Heaven and Hell and opened fire.

Eyes widening, Cerise moved to dodge, but wasn't fast enough. Shots tore through her shoulder and side, sending her tumbling down through the sky. She hit the ground hard, Sophronica landing lightly some feet away. Furling her wings into non-existence, she looked from where Cerise lay, to Nero. He had his back to her, watching the fight between Rosso and the other three, and she wasn't even sure if he knew she was there right now.

Sophronica raised one gunblade katana, taking aim. She hated to do this, but I would be the best way, quick, easy. Before he saw her with his brother's katana, and a true battle ensued. Just as she was pulling the trigger, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. It was Cerise, leaping in front of the bullet that had been meant for Nero. The shot hit her in the chest, and she stumbled, falling forward and ending up impaling herself on the still up-raised katana.

Sophronica blinked in surprise, gazing at the lavender haired soldier.

"I guess…you were right," Cerise said, coughing up blood, "I do…love him."

Sophronica pulled the gunblade katana back, freeing the blade, and caught the dying Tsviet. She lowered the younger woman to the ground, held back when Cerise put a hand on her arm, her eyes questioning.

"Don't worry about him," Sophronica said reassuringly, though she knew it was a lie, and so did Cerise.

What else was she supposed to say? For so long, these people had been like a family to her, despite all their quarrels and differences. She didn't hate Cerise, or Nero, but she had to do these things.

Standing, she shifted her grip on Heaven and Hell, turning towards where Nero stood; now, the real fight was going to begin.


	11. Alone In the Dark

**Chapter Ten – "Alone In the Dark"**

She stopped a few feet behind him, and this time she knew he was aware of her presence. She sighed a bit, holding her gunblade katana down at her sides.

"Nero…" she started quietly, "Why don't you just get out of here? I have no quarrel with you."

"What have you?" he asked in a voice just above a whisper, "I can't feel him any more."

"Nero…" she started again, feeling an uneasy stirring. She should just strike now, but she couldn't.

At last, he turned to face her, "What have…" he stopped when his gaze landed on Heaven and Hell, "Those are…you…you killed Weiss."

Sophronica could see it starting around him-the darkness flickering into existence, and knew she'd have to move now. Raising her gunblades, she started forward, but only made two steps before the darkness exploded outward, engulfing her. Suddenly not finding any ground beneath her feet, she pitched forward, tumbling over and over through the void. The screaming, those haunting shouts and cries, they were coming from all around her, surrounding her. She twisted about, trying to straighten, but it was difficult with nothing to grab onto or stand on.

"He was my brother," she heard Nero say from somewhere within the darkness.

She held her silence for now, knowing that there wasn't anything she could say to change this situation. She twisted about again, floating through the blackness as she tried to figure out where he was. This was his world after all, he could be anywhere.

Something was coming towards her though, swimming through the void like a giant, black tadpole-a Daemon. She switched both katana to one hand, freeing her left to throw a fireball. The Daemon evaded the fire, quickly changing direction away from her.

"Nero!" she shouted, already frustrated at his lack of appearance.

"He was the only one who ever loved me," came the response, seemingly from all around her.

She didn't bother to tell him that wasn't true.

There was gravity…there was ground beneath her feet, blackened jagged rocks floating in the void. Ahead of her, there was a figure-long black hair, metal, skeletal wings. Moving swiftly, she raised her katana, rushing towards him. Just before she reached him, he vanished into the shadows and her blades met only darkness. As she started to turn she felt a sharp pain across her left arm. Looking down, she saw twin slashes in her jacket, and down into her skin, that must have been from his wings.

Sophronica whirled again, but everything was gone, just a void once more. The darkness was pulling her down though, slowing her movements like quicksand. She struggled against it, but the more she did, the more it pulled at her. It was dragging down her long leather coat the most, restricting how she could move her arms. She struggled out of the sleeves, finally freeing herself from it, and stumbled a few steps. As she was regaining her balance, there was slashing pain across her back, and she whirled.

There is was again, the rugged rocks, and there was Nero. She charged towards him, raising Heaven and Hell, but didn't see the twin pistols held in the mechanical hands of his wings until it was too late. She tried to dodge the shots as he opened fire, but there wasn't much room on the rocks, and so a bullet ripped through her side, another through her leg. She stumbled, but kept moving, only for him to vanish just as she struck out with her katana. She spun, seeing him some distance behind her again, but faltered for a moment when she saw that the sleeves of his straitjacket were undone, his hands free from them.

"He was the only I ever loved," he said, and even from this distance, she could see the flood of emotions in his garnet eyes-insanity, despair, rage, "And you took him from me."

"Nero," she started, taking a few steps forward, "I…I…" she couldn't finish though; there were no words for this, only actions.

With a slight shake of her head, she started towards him again, flames beginning to race down the edges of the gunblades. Before she even got halfway towards him though, he was gone, though she was expecting that this time, and quickly pivoted, bringing her blades around. However, she was _not_ expecting the flare of pain in her stomach that brought her actions to a halt. Tearing her gaze away from his eyes, she looked down to see his hand through her stomach, flickering between reality and darkness. All in the blink of an eye, he pulled his hand back, his wings shifting around, and one skeletal frame hit her hard, knocking her back off her feet to sprawl against the rocks. She rolled from the momentum, almost losing her hold on one gunblade, and rolled off the edge, falling down into the darkness.

She struggled to right herself as she fell, fighting back the pain and ignoring the blood loss; she had to stay together, had to finish this, she didn't have any other options. She shifted her grip on Heaven and Hell, ensuring that they wouldn't slip from her hands, and finally hit what seemed to be some sort of solid ground, though with everything so dark, it was hard to tell. She stumbled a bit, turning and giving her head a slight shake to fight off both the pain and the effects of the darkness that were starting to get to her.

"Nero," she called, "I have to do this, I have to end this."

There was no response, but then again, she hadn't been expecting one. Something hit her from behind, something that grasped the back of her vest and flung her. Caught slightly off guard, but determined not to lose, she twisted about as she fell, managing to land in a crouch, though found herself only gazing at darkness. She stood quickly, turning as a gunshot echoed out. She couldn't see where it was coming from, and so was unable to properly dodge, but it ended up only winging her side anyway. It was like he was toying with her, making her suffer before he moved in for the kill. Of course, it wasn't _like_ anything, it was exactly what he was doing-this was Nero the Sable she was dealing with after all.

She turned towards the direction she thought the shot came from, only to be met with a blow from the darkness that landed on her chin and snapped her head back. Shaking it off, she forced herself to stand still, to ignore the pain from her wounds, and to concentrate on her surroundings. He had been her mentor after all, she knew _something_ of his battle style-then again, being in a rage like this made him unpredictable…. Another attack came from the shadows, one of his wings raking across her arm, but she ground her teeth, forced herself to ignore it; she had to move at the right moment.

Abruptly, she sprang into action, spinning around to stab Heaven and Hell forward, the blades slightly crossed. His expression seemed to be as surprised as hers was as she blinked; she hadn't actually expected to hit him, but…obviously she had as the twin katana were pierced neatly through his chest-the first and last blow she'd landed against him. She pulled the blades free, dropping them to either side of her to catch him in her arms. She lowered him down gently, cradling his head in her lap. He was the only one in the Tsviets that she'd ever gotten along with, the only one in the whole of Deepground.

"I don't understand…" he said quietly, gazing up at her.

She wasn't sure whether he meant how she'd defeated him, why she was doing this to begin with, or something else, but it didn't really matter much because she didn't have any explanation that he _would_ understand.

"Everything's going to be all right," she said, smoothing his ebony locks back from his eyes, "You'll be with your brother again soon."

She paused to look around them; the void was fluctuating, beginning to dissolve away, weakening as its wielder did.

"And then you'll never be apart from each other, never," she finished.

The darkness surrounding them was beginning to shrink, slowly revealing the real world as it retracted back to its core, and she knew that he was fading fast. She placed a soft kiss to his forehead before sliding out from under him, laying his head down gently. She was going to miss him, despite everything. He'd been like a brother to her, almost, a mentor. But no…she wasn't going to cry, not even a single tear. Collecting Heaven and Hell, she forced herself to her feet, running one hand over her stomach to discover that the wound was already starting to heal, though she'd lost a lot of blood as it was.

The darkness had fully receded to its core, revealing the ruins of Midgar around them once more. The sky was so beautiful, the night welcome, reality itself welcome, after being trapped in that void that only its owner found beautiful and comforting. Reaching back, she slid both gunblade katana into the single sheath on her back, looking around for Yazoo and the other two, hoping their fight with Rosso had gone well.

She started across the ruins in an unhurried limp, holding one hand over the wound on her stomach. After a moment, she heard voices, and then saw Yazoo emerge from behind a large piece of rubble. She smiled at the sight of him, and he did the same-until he saw her wounds, that is.

"Sophronica!" he said, making his way over to where she stood. "Your wounds…"

"I'll be fine," she replied, but then upon seeing his expression added, "But maybe it'd be a good idea to take care of them anyway."

He didn't answer as he went about using Materia to heal her wounds, which she had to admit was a nice change from the pain. He took a slight step back when he was done, seeming unsure for a moment, like he wanted to say something. However, before he could, a figure tackled her from the side, knocking her off her feet. For a second, her fight or flight responses kicked in, until she realized that the figure had silver hair and was hugging her, not attacking her.

"Sophy! You're…I…It's all over!" he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder.

She couldn't help but laugh a bit as she hugged him back, ruffling his hair, "It is."

Yazoo gazed down at his brother, almost seeming somewhat annoyed. "Do you mind?" he asked.

"Oh…" Kadaj mumbled, springing to his feet and offering Sophronica a hand up.

She accepted, shaking her hair back from her eyes as she stood. She smiled at her brothers, but then frowned slightly, "Hey, where's-"

Before she could finish though, some one hugged her from behind, lifting her off her feet for a second, and her eyes widened. "Loz!" she exclaimed with a bit of a laugh as her feet touched the ground again.

"Sorry," he mumbled quietly, releasing her.

She turned, giving him a proper hug, and then turned back to the other two. "Why don't we get out of here?" she said, "This place…too much has happened."

The three nodded. "It'll be good to be home…a whole family again," Yazoo said.

They turned to head towards their motorcycles, but Sophronica reached out and lightly caught Yazoo's arm, "Tenshi…" she said softly.

He stopped, turning back to her as the sound of the nickname sent a chill down his spine. He didn't know what to say though, so he remained silent. He didn't have to worry about being speechless for long though, as she leaned in and kissed him deeply. When she pulled back, she smiled at his surprised expression.

"I love you," she said, resting her forehead against his.

"I love you too," he replied once he'd found his voice again.

She remembered! This had to mean that she remembered, right? She'd called him Tenshi, she said she loved him. Even if she didn't recall everything yet, this was more than enough for him at the moment, it filled him with so much joy, he felt like picking her up and spinning her around. He didn't though, considering all they'd just been through, and how exhausted they all were.

"Let's go," she said with a smile, sliding an arm around his waist.

They caught up with the other two as they walked towards their bikes, and she slung an arm around Kadaj's neck, pulling him close. Unable to put an arm around him as well, she tapped Loz on the shoulder, earning a bright smile from him.

"I can't wait to get back; I miss Faye," Sophronica said, leaning her head on Yazoo's shoulder for a moment.

As they walked, talking amongst themselves and preparing to head back to the Forgotten Capital, not one of them noticed the black shadow that crept after them, merging into Sophronica's shadow and appearing utterly normal…

**End.**

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**A/N:** Yes…the end of Catalyst 4…a cliffhanger! Which can only mean one thing! Another Catalyst fic will follow this one. Yes, that's right, more Sophy and Yazoo! Thank you to everyone who reviewed; reviews make me happy, especially knowing that others enjoy reading my fics.


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